Freddy
by burmafrd
Summary: Till We Meet Again by Judith Krantz. Freddy inspired me and my thanks to Judith Krantz for her creation. I am just borrowing for a bit.


After Mac's death, Freddy had been determined to continue on with the work that he had died for. So she joined the group that had various names (formal and informal)- that freed up male pilots by taking their places ferrying aircraft from base to base or from the factorys to the bases. It was not much, but that was all that any female was allowed to do.

That rankled Freddy, who up to this point had been always able to do ANYTHING that any male pilot could do, and usually do it better. Well, at least she got a lot of flying in- the old rules about maximum number of flight hours allowed per month had gone out the

window with the situation as extreme as it currently was. The beginning of May, 1940, had started with the ominous news about the invasion of Belgium, as the German army proceeded to outflank the vaunted Maginot Line- something that apparently had not been expected by the French. Things had gone downhill rapidly after that. The frenetic activity had had its crescendo at Dunkirk, when Freddy and the other women had been pretty much run off their feet ferrying every possible plane to the airfields closest to Dunkirk to replace the losses that Fighter Command had sustained covering the evacuation. Freddy had not flown a bomber type in over a month- not that she minded very much. While she

enjoyed the challenge of flying the bigger planes, fighters had always been her first love.

Remmembering all the times that she and Mac had flown together- Freddy put a stop to that thought- it still hurt too much. Mac had taught her everything he knew about flying pursuits (as he called them)- and he had known a lot. Freddy knew things that most of the pilots flying Spits and Hurricanes now didn't. Not that she would ever be able to use any of it- she knew very well that even if the Germans were marching down London's streets the chances of her or any woman being allowed to fight was pretty slim. Damn stuffy Brits, she fumed.

Well, at least Joe here is not stuffy, she thought. Joe Willis was the chief pilot of the new Typhoon(actually, the only one that had flown one up till now). The Prototype had flown in January, and some changes had been made. He had just finished the final approvel flights (the speed at which this had happened had amazed him, even in war).

Production was already beginning, and he was teaching Freddy how to fly it as the first pilot other then himself to fly one. The Typhoon was technically a fighter bomber- though personally Freddy thought it leaned a lot more towards bomber then fighter.

It was huge compared to the Spitfire; nearly twice as big. With a massive engine, and the heavier wings and fuselage, it dwarfed both the Spit and the Hurricane. 4 20MM cannons in the wings gave it quite a punch- but they were actually the lightest armament it could carry. 6 racks in the wings each carried a 5" rocket with a high explosive warhead that was confidently predicted to be able to destroy any german tank it hit. But the most interesting and potentially the most powerfull weapon was the 37MM cannon that fired out of the propeller. Something like the American P39, only instead of the engine being behind the pilot and the cannon in front, the Typhoon had it the other way around.

By using a large bore, hollow crankshaft, the cannon breach and shells were mounted behind the pilot. It could fire its 10 shells as fast as the pilot could pull the trigger.

High velocity AP shells as well as HE could be loaded. Firing down from above on the relatively thin armor on the top or back of tanks made that cannon very deadly to them.

Freddy wondered what it was like flying and firing the cannon- just what kind of a jolt did that have? Well, it was not like she would find out, she thought.

Joe finished his walk through, and asked her if she had any questions. She thought about it for a minute, then smiled at him and asked " Should I have any questions".

Joe grinned and said "Unloaded as she currently is, she is a hot bird- that engine has got a lot of power for the empty weight she is at now. So that means you have to be aware of it at all times or it WILL get you into trouble. But as far as I can tell, she has no bad habits". Freddy was happy to hear that- a nice, well mannered plane was always to be preferred. She looked at Joe and said" Well, lets have at it!".

30 minutes later, at 15000 feet, Freddy found that she really liked this plane. She was not sure she would love it- but she liked it a lot right now. Joe was right about it being unloaded and over powered- but Freddy liked it anyway. It was pretty maneuverable for its size and weight, and it did seem to have no bad habits or foibles. She got ready for a full power run- and pushed the throttle to its max power setting. WOOOOWWWW!

Freddy had never flown anything with this kind of power to weight ratio- and it was a revelation. Not even the Mosquito- up to this point the most powerfull plane as regards to that ratio she had ever flown- felt like this. And the Mosquito was about as hot as you could get in a plane. 2 engines and made out of wood, 400MPH was almost cruising for that plane. But now- here with the Typhoon- she thought she might be able to beat one in a drag race! Lost to herself in her enjoyment, she began to do acrobatics and have FUN.

On the ground, Joe Willis looked up and smiled. I'll bet Freddy is feeling the same thing I did the first time I flew the Typhoon, he thought. I wonder if I should tell her that I knew Mac back in the last war? Now too old for combat (he snorted at that- I bet I could run rings around most of these Kids) about all he was allowed to do was test fly and such.

Better then sitting around doing nothing, he thought. Or worse yet, being dragooned into the Home Guard, he shuddered. Watching Freddy dance around the sky, he sighed. Mac, when you wrote me about Freddy you really did not give the whole picture. Yes, she was gorgeous and fun, but you really did not say much about how great a flyer she was. You mentioned teaching her to fly, and teaching her all the tricks that kept pilots like you and me alive in the last war, but you never told me just how good she really is!

Finally Freddy brought it back down to the field. As she got out of the plane, Joe walked up to her and asked her "have fun?". She just grinned at him.

Ok, he thought – now the next part. Motioning to the ground crew, he stepped back as

they swarmed around the plane, fueling her and getting her ready for the next flight.

Freddy looked with interest at the Ammo carts being brought forward. She looked at Joe and he winked at her. Uh, Oh, he is up to something, she thought. Joe pulled her aside to talk quietly with her. "Freddy, it has been decided that the Typhoon will be so greatly needed to destroy invasion barges that they will be brought ready to fight right from the Factory to the field it will fly from. So you need to be able to get used to her fully loaded.

Freddy looked at him and smiled- ":Finally get to fly a bird ready to fight", she crowed.

Joe rolled his eyes and said:"yes, you get to fly her but THAT IS ALL." Freddy pouted at him. "You're no fun".

It was CERTAINLY different with a full load, she thought, 1 hr later. Flying at the same altitude, same power setting, the Typhoon was wallowing; not badly, but compared to her attitude empty it was totally different. Though she gave it credit- it was nowhere near as bad as a regular bomber fully loaded. She gingerly tried some of the same acrobatics she had performed earlier- and was surprised to find out that the Typhoon still had no bad habits and actually did pretty well. Her grin came back as she played some more.

Once again watching from the ground, Joe once again smiled. She really is good, he thought. Its not going to take any more then this flight to certify her under all conditions.

Which is a good thing, he thought, since the ferrying was going to be beginning in a couple of days. I wonder how many of the other girls will be able to handle that bird so well? As a barnstormer and acrobatic pilot with lots of experience since the war, he had run into a lot of women pilots and knew that a lot of them were as good as any man with the stick. And some, he grinned, are as good as anyone that ever flew, Freddy being one of them.

7 days later, flying a fully loaded Typhoon down to Biggen, Freddy was trying to keep her spirits up. Why did this happen now, she grumbled. A stupid car accident- and Joe is laid up for several months with both legs broken, some ribs and an arm as well. At least none of the injuries were permanent- that was a blessing! That idiot farmer and his hay waggon- parking it on a curve on a road where it would be invisible right up till the driver was right on top of it! At least the farmer was getting all he deserved- she smiled. He was in a lot of trouble. Joe was a popular guy in the area, and the farmer wasn't. Joe had not had a chance to train anyone else to fly the Typhoon, so now she was it. She had been told that she was to ferry every single one for the time being, pilots were going to be hard to find to do any of it. She would be able to train a couple of the girls in a week or two, but right now there were none available. And she had to wonder if even then it would happen

The Germans had come off of the vacation that they had seemed to be in since the fall of France and were now attacking the RAF fighter command with pretty much everything they had. It had started the week before Joe's accident, and this was the second week of the fighting. She knew Biggen was under attack, so she had to try and time the arrival not to be there in the middle of it. Looking around at the smoke and debris, as she landed, she thought that the field had been worked over pretty good. This was the first Typhoon anyone here had seen- the ground crews were training and would not be there untill tomorrow. A crowd of interested pilots gathered around as she parked the plane.

"What are these things?" growled a pilot on the right wing, looking at the rockets underneath the wing. "Rockets to blow up barges and tanks" said Freddy as she climbed down. Right after Joe's accident, she had taken the fully armed plane up and had fired all its ammo and rockets up at the target range near the factory. She really was not supposed to do that, but the rules were waived since each plane before its acceptance by the RAF had to be tested in that manner. She had managed to do 8 planes in one day, and by the last one had started to get really good at gunnery and even putting the rockets on the target. She had only been able to do 6 the next day, since she had to meet with the RAF people to formally hand over the planes. Not that anyone could fly them right now. The Wing Commander had been stunned when she told him that right now the only pilot that could fly the Typhoon was her. He had shook his head and muttered "What are things coming too?" She had just grinned at him cheekily and said"Sir, I happen to have a lot more expereince as a pilot then virtually anyone that will be flying her in combat will have, so I can tell you that this plane is quite will mannered, even fully loaded". He had huffed and puffed for a minute, then had shook his head again and told her" I want pilots trained and ready to fly them as soon as possible". "No problem, sir, as soon as they show up I will get them ready". "but what about training them as regards firing the weapons and rockets?" " No problem there either, sir, since I have been doing that for the last two days and have gotten real good at hitting the targets with everything"

He rolled his eyes, but said" OK, but I want this done right away!".

Freddy had been told that the first pilots would be arriving at Biggen the next day, and that she was to get them ready as soon as possible. She had asked why they were being trained at a field that was one of the targets of the current attacks instead of one to the north that wasn't- and she was told that they would be flying operationally out of Biggen as soon as she trained them and the RAF wanted them to not have to get used to a new area and field while they deployed for their first combat. That actually made sense, so Freddy had just shrugged. There was a good target range nearby, so that would not be a problem. Ammunition, shells and rockets were already here at Biggen in storeage so that was not a concern. The ground crew was due that evening – she was going to have to get a plane to fly back to the factory. The crowd of pilots were peppering her with questions-she grinned at them and told them"Its not like you guys are going to get to fly them anyway". They were NOT happy at that- untill she reminded them that this bird was not meant to be slugging it out with the Luftwaffe- just the barges and invasion craft. That mollified them somewhat- having the typical fighter pilots contempt for anything or anyone that did not have the manly duty of going toe to toe in the air.

Freddy was just about to see if she could cadge a ride to HQ to see if she could grab a plane of some kind when she heard the Air Raid siren go off. She was about to run for the nearest trench when she stopped and looked at her plane- just sitting there out in the open; if the german fighters decided to do a straffing run it was a sitting duck. Her decision made she ran for the cockpit- she had not taken off her parachute yet- and fired up the engine. The pilots had all run for the trenches- except for those running for their planes-so no one had anything to say about her taking off in the middle of an attack (or at the beginning of one, she thought) as she taxied as fast as she could towards the open runways. Gunning the engine- glad she still had at least half a tank of gas- she rolled and soon was airborne. Knowing from which direction the attack was coming- she started to head that way when she saw the first German Fighters heading towards the field. Looking higher, she realized that the bombers were still minutes off but that the fighters would be hitting the field in a lot less time. She looked down at the airfield- the fighters were just now taxing towards the runway. None of them has been at the ready, engines off with no ground crew nearby. Apparently it was thought that they would not be hit this quickly after the last attack. Well everyone was wrong-and the fighters were about to be caught at their most vulnerable. Later, thinking back, Freddy could not remember actually coming to a conscious decision.

Freddy turned her Typhoon towards the oncoming Luftwaffe fighters- thinking that if she let loose with a couple of bursts the germans would pull up and dodge, giving the fighters down below the crucial minutes they needed to get airborne and ready. As she got ready she decided to not fire the rockets- those were dangerous items to throw around- and not just to the Germans. She knew she was in range with the 37, so she fired it first- and was astounded to hit one of the German fighters right in the nose. A rather spectacular explosion occurred, and the other fighters immediately broke off their attack run. Acting on instinct honed by the hours dogfighting with Mac, she pulled up slightly and fired a burst of 20MM at the belly of a second fighter, which blew up almost as well as the first. Still accelerating, she did a loop and straightened out to see 2 fighters turning towards her; her relatively slow speed had enabled her to make that manuever much quicker then the faster moving German fighters. Leveling her plane, she put a 37 right into the middle of the first fighter, and another into the nose of the second fighter. The jolt of each shot was not as great as expected considering the slow speed she was traveling at. 2 more were coming right at her and she unloaded her 20's at them, feeling the jerks of hits from their weapons on her Typhoon, but seeing one of them start smoking and nose diving into the ground, while the other did a sharp pull up and started running. She pulled around to pursue when she noticed a whole gaggle of Spits coming towards her- and realized that they were now about to engage the remaining German fighters. Looking above her, she realized that the bombers were about to start their attack run. She pulled up and started towards them climbing steadily. They were coming in at about 10000 feet, so she was only about 4-5000 below them. She thought about the rockets- they had a self destruct setting on the fuzes so that they would detonate 5 seconds after firing when their motors burned out. She knew that if she fired up at the bombers, the rockets would explode somewhere near them, perhaps causing enough distraction to interfere with their bomb runs. Deciding to spread them out a little, she fired them in bursts of 2 each; going from right to left through the bombers formation. Knowing she did not have to worry about the rockets exploding near the ground, unlike at the beginning of the fight, it was a relief to let them go. Immediately after firing the last 2, she broke right and dived, just avoiding 2 fighters thathad decided to come after her. So she did not see that 2 rockets scored direct hits, blowing up the bombers and their bombs in the most vivid explosion yet. 1 more exploded right next to a 3rd bomber, acting as a AA burst and shredding its right engine. Smoking, it turned and tried to escape, jettisoning its bombs to fall harmlessly short of the airfield into an empty pasture. But the damage done to the plane had not only been to the engine, the hard turn snapped the right wing which had been damaged by the rocket as well. It corkscrewed down to crash only a few hundred yards short of the airfield. The rest of the bombers had scattered and had jettisoned their bombs as well, none of them hitting the airfield and heading back for France. Apparently the sight of the exploding bombers and rockets going by had unnerved them. For a moment Freddy considered pursuit, but looking down at her gas gage realized that that was not going to happen. Luckily the fighters that had been coming after her decided to run too with the Spits on their tails. So she headed on down to land- thinking that she was probably going to get in a lot of trouble the minute she touched down.

Down below on the airfield quite a suprising number of pairs of eyes had been watching the show. One set belonged to the Base Commander, who had been on his way to see the strange plane that had landed- he knew that the Typhoons were on their way, but he had not thought they would get here that soon. Observing what happened as the Air Raid siren had gone off, his first thought as he saw the red headed pilot running towards the plane and taking off was that while that was not the correct procedure it was a good one to save that plane. Looking west and seeing the oncoming german fighters he hoped that she would stay low and keep running and that the Germans would be more interested in the field and the planes taking off. He winced at the realization that in the next few minutes he was probably going to see the destruction of an entire squadron. Then he watched, jaw dropping, as that crazy woman turned not to run but right towards the oncoming German fighters. At first he thought she had panicked and had made the wrong turn- then he watched as she fired her cannon and a german fighter exploded. The rest of them broke and turned, losing another as she put a burst into its belly. Stunned he watched as all by herself she pretty much defeated the entire german attack. 8, he thought dazedly, 5 fighters and 3 bombers in one attack.

Freddy saw the Base Commander heading her way as she landed. Oh, well, she thought, I guess I will be going home a lot sooner then I thought. Still, no one would ever be able to take away what she had just accomplished. So it was with some equanimity she walked over to meet him. She was suddenly picked up and carried around by several jubilant pilots- yelling and cheering all the way. Incredibly, instead of immediately calling the pilots to account, the Base Commander stood by and waited for things to die down. After a minute or two they let her down and she faced the RAF senior officer.

"Flight officer De Lancel , you need to be debriefed with the rest of the pilots."

He then turned and walked away, leaving Freddy standing there with her mouth open.

The debriefing was mentally exhausting- the same question asked several different ways. Freddy was feeling wrung out to dry when she finally left the room. Waiting for her was the Base Commander again. "This way, Flight Officer De Lancel" as he marched out of the building towards the base HQ. Walking in silence into the HQ and up the stairs, Freddy realized they were going to the Base Commanders office. Freddy followed him in and watched as he picked up a strange looking telephone and made a call. He waited for a minute, said "Yes Sir, here she is" and handed Freddy the phone. He immediately walked out the door, leaving her alone in his office holding the phone. Taking a deep breath, she spoke into the handset" this is flight officer De Lancel".

"This is Air Vice Marshal Parks" PARKS- thought Freddy- commander of 11 Group- responsible for the entire south of England- responsible for the defense of the Channel- the man currently in the hot seat- wants to talk to ME? "Sir" says Freddy. "I want to congratulate you on a superb mission. You just set a record for most aircraft shot down in one day- let alone a single mission. You prevented what would have been potentially a disastrous attack and heavy losses at one of our most critical air fields. Air Chief Marshal Dowding was most impressed by both your performance and that of the Typhoon. A car will be there in the next hour to bring you here to Fighter Command HQ." "Yes sir" was all Freddy could get out. "See you at 1700". "Yes Sir".

Air Vice Marshall Parks was wrong on one thing- it was only half an hour before the car showed up. Freddy had grabbed her flight bag and parachute and was just getting back to the HQ when it showed up. The Base Commander informed her that the Typhoon was going to be armed and gassed and would be waiting for her when she got back. That left Freddy speechless again- she was coming BACK? She jumped in the car and it took off. It was only 45 minutes later when the car arrived at Fighter Command. Waiting outside was a Group Captain that returned her salute and took her inside. In minutes Freddy was inside the main briefing room at the heart of the Air defense of England.

Standing in the room was two officers- one she vaguely recognized as Air Vice Marshall Parks and an older officer that she KNEW had to be Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh "Stuffy" Dowding, commander of Fighter Command. She came to attention and Saluted- it was returned sharply by both officers. Parks then said-"Have a seat, Flight officer De Lancel." Freddy sat. Dowding then said" In your own words, Flight Officer, tell us what you were thinking and why you did what you did".

Freddy took a deep breath- she had been thinking about what she needed to say.

"At first I just wanted to get the Typhoon out of there- she was a sitting duck where she was. Then after I took off I saw the fighters coming- I looked down and saw that our fighters would be caught just taking off- it would be a slaughter. I could not just stand by and do nothing. So I turned towards them and decided to fire a few bursts to try and force them to break off. I was very surprised when my first cannon shot was a hit. From that point on I was just reacting. When I saw the bombers coming, I knew I could fire the rockets at them and even if there were no hits it might break up the formation. I did not see the results but the debriefer informed me that 3 were shot down." Parks"why did you not use the rockets when the fighters were coming in?" " I felt I could not use them since there was every chance that I would miss with all of them and that close to the ground there was no telling where they would go- or what they would hit" Dowding:"where did you learn your tactics- from the accounts we have you reacted and fought as if you had been trained as a fighter pilot?""Freddy: ""in some respects I was- my flight instructor was a veteran pilot of the last war named Mac- sorry- Terrence McGuire. He taught me everything I know about flying- and we used to dogfight a lot in between stunts for movies." Parks and Dowding looked at each other, then at Freddy. Parks" I knew Terry Mcguire- Mac- we met late in 1918 just after the war." Dowding"I met him somewhat earlier I was always very impressed by him" "He was a good man and as fine a pilot as I ever saw" from Parks. Freddy smiled, a little mistily, and said "Yes he was". Dowding" I can understand now that you were very well trained- but to be able to react and shoot like you did is something that cannot be taught- you either have it or you don't" Parks" you put us in a very stange situation, Miss De lancel. Women are forbidden from combat duties- but not explicitly in the regulations. So technically you can be allowed to fight."

Dowding:"We are in as critical a situation as our nation can be in. We are facing the greatest threat in our history right now. We cannot afford to not use any means, any weapons that could make a difference. Your conduct, and that of the Typhoon, could very well be important. Breaking up a bomber formation is almost as important as shooting them down- the airfields must be protected if we are to maintain control of the air over the channel and prevent the invasion. The Typhoon has shown today that in the hands of a top pilot" he smiled at Freddy's blush"it can cause a great deal of damage to an enemy formation- not just as a fighter bomber attacking invasion barges" Parks:" if the Air chief Marshall agrees I intend to send you back to Biggen tonight and be ready to fight again tomorrow" Dowding smiled a small smile and said"He does". Freddy smiled hugely- "I would be honored sir". Parks " some paperwork needs to be finalized" Dowding" But you have one more meeting to go to tonight before you leave" Freddy" with who, sir?" He smiled:'The PM and the King have both been informed and wish to meet you" Freddy's jaw, for about the 5th time that day, hit the floor.

Riding back to Biggen later that night, Freddy was still trying to sort it all out. The "paperwork" consisted of Freddy officially becoming part of the Regular RAF- the first woman to do so- and being promoted to LT. She was then told by Parks that the rest of the Typhoons would be needed as soon as possible. Freddy promised to start training the pilots in between missions. Parks also informed her that the Base Commander had already briefed the Squadron Leader and that he would be talking to her about coordination as soon as she got to Biggen. She mentioned that she thought that she could have the pilots ready to go in 2-3 days- IF they were not TOO raw. Parks had smiled and told her that they were pilots experienced in the Defiant, and therfore were not that raw. Freddy had been relieved. Parks also told her that she was simply to help protect Biggen right now and not to wander around looking for a fight. Her time was more important getting the rest of the Squadron ready. Freddy had looked at him and asked who the Squadron leader was going to be. Parks looked grim and said- someone not experienced in leading but VERY experienced in the Typhoon. Freddy's eyes grew huge as she realized what he was saying. "Oh, my god" Freddy had said. Parks smiled and said:" We certainly hope he is listening".

The meeting with the PM and the King had been even more incredible. Freddy had been so worried about looking her best and not making a mistake that she barely said a word. The King had been a real sweety- shy and reserved but with a twinkle in his eye as he thanked her for her service and wished her well. The PM said that he wished he was young enough to be up there- and said with a sly wink that he never had seen such a beautiful pilot before. In a slightly more serious note the PM had said that the critical time was now and that she was in a rare position of being able to influence great events.

That really hit Freddy right between the eyes.

It was 2000 by the time she got back to Biggen. The Base Commander and the Squadron Leader were waiting for her. Noticing her new rank, the Base Commander had

smiled and said "Coming up in the world somewhat, LT" Freddy had grinned slightly and said thatit somewhat surprised her as well. The Squadron Leader got right to the point:" Tomorrow we will go right at them. Its figured by the boffins that Biggen will be a target again- and that they will be wary of something like what you did to them. So they figure that an even stronger attack will be one of their first priorities. We will cover you when you make your first strike with the rockets. That 37 of yours has a good range and would be best used by attacking from below and from the rear. If your rockets break up the formation then we will go right in for the kill. But that is the key- breaking it up quickly and before their fighter escort can get involved". Freddy nodded. The Base Commander then said:"Your trainee pilots have arrived and are waiting for you in the main briefing room". Freddy nodded again and asked where it was. The Base Commander smiled and said- "I will take you there".

Freddy looked out at the young faces in front of her. She doubted that any more then a handfull were older then she was, and not by much. The Base Commander was sitting in a chair at the back of the room, clearly making her the focal point. Freddy took a deep breath, said a little prayer, and began. "ok people, here is the deal. I am the only pilot currently on flight status with any experience in the Typhoon. That was not the way things were to go but that is the way things are. You all know by now that the Typhoon is

capable of causing a lot of havoc if used correctly. It has some great strengths BUT DOGFIGHTING is not one of them. It is too big and heavy for that and anyone that tries to dogfight a ME 109 will get toasted in a hurry. BUT you are much more heavily armed with weapons that have a much longer range and much greater striking power. USE those to your advantage. Today I showed that you can cause a great deal of damage in a short period of time. AND time is short, people. The invasion could happen very soon if we do not keep control of the air over the channel- and that means holding our own here in southern england, over our primary air fields. Tomorrow you will watch as I demonstrate what we will be doing as soon as the Squadron becomes operational- and I am under orders to make that happen as soon as possible. At dawn you will each fly for 15 minutes in the second Typhoon that I will be bringing in. I am heading out to the factory by car in one hour. I will take off before dawn and it will only take me about 20 minutes to get here. Now gather around as I go over the dos and don't s of flying the Typhoon"

Telling the Base Commander what she intended to do had been somewhat of a hastle, but she knew she needed that second Typhoon here now. He grumbled but agreed. She borrowed a MG from one of the pilots and took off. It took her over an hour to get there, then almost as long to get it ready to go. She grabbed a blanket and sacked out in an empty office, telling the crew there to wake her up one hour before dawn. Amazingly, she had fallen asleep right away and slept like the dead. Taking off at night was not a picnic, but she knew her way around and made it to Biggin just as the first light was coming up. Landing the new Typhoon, she found the pilots right there waiting. She lost no time in getting the first ones up and flying. Luckily they had swarmed her Typhoon and were at least familiar with the cockpit. Time seem to run away as she desperately trained the newbees. By 0800 all 16 of them had gotten their 15 minutes. She then gathered them around – already having talked to each of them separately after they had landed. As far as she could tell, they were all at least competent. Unfortunately she only had 10 minutes to talk to them before the Squadron Leader roared up to her on his motorcycle-yelling" They are coming probably about 20 minutes out!"

Freddy grimaced as she ran to her Typhoon- all ready and armed. Hopping in and starting her up- she went over the brief the Squadron Leader had given her. Approx 30 bombers and about the same number of fighters were heading their way- double the numbers of the previous afternoon. So the boffins were right- she thought- twice the power and early too. As she took off, she watched the other aircraft come after her. They formed up at 15000 feet as she got into position to hit the formation from the rear. Circling around to the north, with the bomber streem at 18000, she closed in, the Spits behind and under her. She took aim on the leading section and let fly with the rockets, firing them two at a time. She was gratified to see direct hits on all three of her targets, even more gratified to see the formation loosen- but not quite break up. So she closed in and ignoring the tracers from the bombers gunners- all way short of her and out of range- and began to fire the 37. She put her first shell into the bombay of the remaining aircraft in the first section and grinned brutally as it blew up rather well. Then her second shell hit the one next to it- and while it did not blow up it began to smoke and broke formation. Her third shell blew the wing off of the next aircraft, and then she was past them and the formation had totally broken up. Some of the bmbers had even jettisoned their loads and turned to run. BUT not all of them. About 10 of them were still heading for the airfield.

She heard the Squadron leader order the first two sections to concentrate on those still heading for the field- and she looked up to see the escorts coming after her. That was good- they had not spotted the other section that was covering her rear. They found out about them quickly enough. Pulling a hard turn she looked around to see who was in range and found that the leading sections of the bombers were almost at the field but were being shot up by the Spits- and were jettisoning their bombs and breaking off. Mission accomplished, she thought. THEN frantically cut right and dove as tracers began to come towards her from 2 fighters determined to take her down. Seeing an oppurtunity, she headed towards 2 bombers trying to flee. Giving quick bursts from her 20's, she blew the right engine up on one and shredded the cockpit of the other, then dove right under the first, forcing her pursuers to dodge the aircraft as well. With all her strength, she pulled the hardest climbing turn she could possibly stand, hoping her opponents were distracted long enough for it to work. Luckily it did and they were gone.Looking around she spotted 2 german fighters chasing one Spit, and she instinctively headed that way. With the bombers already taken care of, watching each others backs was more important now. She quickly closed the range, noticing that who ever was flying the Spit was no slouch. Taking a chance, Freddy yelled out" Spitfire with two on your tail, break right- NOW!"

He did and it brought the two fighters right across her front. She held down the trigger and hosed both of them with 20mm shells – sending out a deadly stream of HE rds for them to fly through. It WORKED- both of them were shredded- one exploding and the other corkscrewing down to blow up on impact with the field below. Freddy looked around and seeing no one else formed up on the Spit. The pilot signaled happily at her and she jauntily signaled back. Minutes later they landed at Biggen.

Freddy looked at her watch and was surprised to see that it was only 945. A short time for so much to happen. 6 bombers destroyed and 2 damaged; 2 fighters destroyed. That gives me 16 in the last two days, she thought with satisfaction. The pilots surrounded her again, just like yesterday. As they headed for debriefing she yelled at her trainees to follow them and listen in. The debriefer was somewhat put out about having an audience, but the Squadron Leader was firm that what she wanted she got, and he was backed up by the Base Commander. Both of them had congratulated her- the Squadron leader telling her that it looked like 1/2 the bombers had been either destroyed or badly damaged. And as many as 8-10 fighters as well. And Biggen had not been hit- which was just as important as shooting them down. Her 6 kills were confirmed, and the other two were listed as badly damaged. Within the hour it was confirmed that one of them had crashed short of the channel, and the other in the channel, so she was given credit for 8 destroyed bombers. Surprised they were able to verify those others so quickly, Freddy was told that a special effort had been made to keep track of this attack. The rest of the squadron had knocked down 6 more, and badly damaged 3 others, in addition to 3 other fightes destroyed and 2 damaged. 14 bombers and 5 fighters down, and 3 bombers and 2 fighters damaged out of about 60 total. At more then 50 loss and damage to the bomber force, and forcing them to abort their attack, the defense of Biggen had been a total success.

It was figured that if there was another attack it would not come untill early in the afternoon. The Germans would have to think about it some with those kind of losses.

Freddy smiled and said I hope so. She then went out and talked to her trainees. After answering their questions, she then got down to asking her own. The Answers were good enough that she made a decision.

Freddy had gone to the Base Commander and asked for transport for her trainees to the factory in order to ferry the entire 1st Typhoon Squadron back to Biggen. The BC asked how long that would take- Freddy estimated 2-3 hrs max. The BC then called sector HQ and asked for an estimate on the timing of the next raid. After the call he made arrangements for Freddy and her newbies. Freddy then called the factory and let them know that the entire Squadron needed to be ready soon. A lorry soon appeared and Freddy hopped into the cab, yelling at the rest of the Pilots to pile in. Then she gave the driver directions and told him to drive like hell. The young enlisted man grinned and said "yes Maam". Freddy frowned at him and told him NOT to MAAM her- she was not THAT old. He grinned and hit the gas. It took one hour to get to the factory; and the driver did really DRIVE like hell. Once there, Freddy was glad to see that the planes were not only ready, but fully armed. She looked at her watch and told the pilots to crank up and get ready to go. It was noon before they were all airborne- and Freddy was a little worried. She chivvied them around and had them maneiver and get more used to the plane fully armed at max weight. Calling ahead to Biggen, she informed them that the squadron would be there in 30 minutes- the reply told her that the raid was on its way and would arrive about the same time as they did. Freddy thought about that for a few minutes- then made a hard decision. Calling back she informed Biggen that the 1st Typhoon Squadron would become operational at that time. A few minutes went by and Biggen called back- it was the BC. He asked if Freddy was sure about that. Freddy said no but time was running out and the squadron was going to have to sink or swim- but that she intended to keep them together and hit and run. The BC replied ok- on THAT proviso that they NOT try and mix it up. Freddy shot back that she was not that stupid to try that with such inexperienced pilots.

Switching her radio back to the special squadron frequency that she had asked that all the planes radios be set up for, Freddy let the rest of the squadron know what was going to happen. Over the next 25 minutes as they flew towards Biggen Freddy drilled them on the plan. She even had time for 2 dry runs. She was glad she had already assigned section leaders and wingmen- they needed this time desperately to start getting used to each other. Freddt was very aware of the risks she was running- she could lose the entire squadron if all went badly.

Freddy looked down on the oncoming German bomber squadrons. She decided that since all the attacks had been from the rear or below that this time they would hit from above and to the side- hoping to catch the Germans off balance and looking the other way. It was looking like she would be right- the numbers were the same as this morning; but the Germans has set things up differently. Now the Bombers were at about 12000, and there were what looked like 2 full squadrons of fighters about 3000 feet below them.

Only 1 squadron was above and they were about 15000. Freddy had her squadron at 22000. Taking a deep breath, saying a prayer, she gave the order" All sections, ready to attack in 30 seconds – FOLLOW ME!" She then took her Typhoon at a 30 degree dive and accelerated to 400 mph. She looked around and saw that the rest of the squadron was doing OK in keeping formation. She watched as the bomber stream got bigger and bigger. Attacking from above meant that she had to make sure that the rockets whether they hit anything or not would explode before they got TOO close to the ground. She figured they had to fire at about16000 feet for the explosions to happen right at the height of the bomber stream. The Rockets flew at about 600 mph- 10 miles a minute- over 800 feet per second. 5 seconds after firing they were set to go off. Just as her altimeter hit 16000 feet she gave the order to fire. In the next second 102 rockets were flying. Since hers went first she was able to ID their trails and was glad to see that she got a direct hit on a bomber that blew up quite nicely. Then there were explosions all over- many in the midst of the stream- she had calculated that quite well. She counted 8 bombers outright destroyed and several others damaged to varying degrees. BUT more importantly the whole stream broke up and scattered, many dropping their bombs. She then ordered the squadron to follow her on a hard turn to the right, and keep their speed at 400 mph. She looked for the topside German fighters and was glad to see that while they were coming after them, they were still below and certainly not that close. She knew they had no chance to catch her squadron. She kept on her course for 2 minutes and then ordered the squadron to follow her on a hard climb back up to 20000. She then maneuvered the squadron around to go after the remaining bombers that had not turned back yet. There was less then a dozen. The German fighters were still trying to catch up with them; the lower squadrons had disappeared apparently following the other bombers back to France. Freddy grinned ruthlessly- the German fighter commander had screwed up big time and the rest of the bombers were meat on the table. She saw that they were getting very close to Biggen- she needed to finish this NOW. Freddy ordered the Squadron to be ready to fire both the 37 and the 20's together- she intended to smother the bombers with fire. She placed the squadron dead ahead of the bombers on the same level- a straight ahead shot. Assigning the sections to the right and theleft of her, with the last right with her, she gave the order to open fire with a full second burst of 20's and 2 37 shots. The results were gratifying. Of the 11 bombers, 7 were hit and either blew up or headed into a death dive. She was fairly sure they got hits on the rest of them. Then they were past and streaking away. Freddy took the squadron on another full power climb back up to 25000 feet- noticing that the fuel gage was getting towards ¼. looking around and finding no Germans – the rest of the fighters were heading back to France- Freddy called Biggen and let them know they were coming in.

Freddy sat in the debriefing room, contemplating the days events. Her squadron was given credit for 18 destroyed and 10 damaged bombers. It was felt that several of the damaged ones would not make it back to France. The BC had aready congratulated her- the Squadron Leader was ticked off that they had been unable to make contact since they were too far away before the remainder of the german attack had turned tail and run for it.They had been a little late taking off due to some confusion on the ground- and that was something the BC was going to get his teeth into. If Freddy had not stopped the attack, they would not have been able to make contact untill the bombers were right up to the field. Freddy was given credit for 2 bombers destroyed and 2 damaged. That raised her personal score to 18. The BC had told her that the boffins believed that there would not be a 3rd attack today- while there was still time for it they did not think the Germans would do it in order to figure out what was happening. Their heavy losses had to make them stop and think about it. Freddy then told the BC that she wanted her planes all fueled and armed as she wanted to give the newbies more training. The BC agreed and gave the orders. Freddy then took the newbies into the briefing room for her critique.

They then went to the mess hall to eat and get ready for the training flight. Freddy spent the rest of the day working their tales off. They each got 2 runs of firing all weapons and more then 3 hrs of flight time maneuvering and practicing. Freddy was quietly pleased with their progress: they were still very green, but they were getting there. At 1830 She was told to head back to Fighter Command for another meeting. She decided to fly to the field right next to Fighter Command to save time getting back after the meeting. At 1900 she took off for the 20 minute flight there.

At the meeting Freddy was saddened to see that the rest of Fighter Command had not faired as well that day. Manston had been badly damaged, several other fields less so but still it was mounting. They needed to have a 4 to 1 kill ratio to win the battle and right now it was at 3-1, and a lot of that was due to the Typhoons and Freddy's success. Dowding bluntly told her that they needed to prevent the damage to the fields just as much as shooting down the German bombers- the cumulative damage effect would not be that long in forcing Fighter Command to abandon its forward bases- which was the first step to losing control of the air over the channel and thus opening the door for invasion.

She was told that the second batch of pilots- mostly culled from Coastal Command- would be reporting to her the next day. The Planes for that second squadron were just about ready at the factory. Freddy shook her head and told him that the first squadron was not ready yet to do more then they had today- maintain formation and fire as one and then run. They were NOT ready to actually fight separetely. Dowding agreed but told her they needed to keep the pressure up and more fields needed to be defended the way Biggen had been. Freddy bowed to that logic and told Dowding that she would start on them right away. He told her that the pilots were already on their way to the factory. Freddy looked at her watch and told him that she wanted to head out there in her Typhoon and hoped to get there before dark. Dowding agreed to that then surprised her by handing her her Squadron Leader rank insignia and congratulating her on a good day. Freddy thanked him and took off for her plane.

She got there just as the last light was fading away- and just as the new pilots arrived by truck. On landing she was told that cots had been set up in an unused room in the factory for her and her pilots. She thanked the factory rep and then went and met her second squadron. Wearing her new rank, she quickly brought them up to speed on current events and what was going to happen. She was glad to see that there was a veteran pilot that could be upped to Squadron leader status fairly quickly. He had been a Spit, then a Blenheim pilot, with also some time in the Defiant and the Hurricane. She wasted no time in telling him that he was the next Squadron Leader- much to his surprise- and that he needed to start sorting out the rest of the squadron asap.They spent the next few hours talking it over and Freddy doing as much as she could to get them ready. In between she had called Biggen and talked to the senior pilot of her squadron and told them to get some sleep as the second squadron would be arriving not long after dawn the next day. He was told to inform the BC of that. Freddy had decided to bring in the next squadron the same way as the first one. These pilots were more experienced fliers and would not need as much time to sort out the Typhoon as the first bunch had. At 2300 she told the pilots to get some rest and turned in- once again fortunately falling right asleep.

Freddy opened one eye and groaned- the factory rep – true to his instructions- had awakened her right at 0530. She had about 45 minutes till dawn. Managing a quick washup- Freddy really wanted a bath but there was no time and no facilities- she grabbed a quck bite at the Factory canteen and headed for the flight line. There she found the whole squadron waiting for her. She quickly ran them through the basic checks and told them to climb in and start up. Freddy waited untill she saw the first light coming before taking off- making sure that the rest of the squadron was with her before she headed towards Biggen. The got to Biggen at 0645; Freddy then took the squadron towards the practice range and spent the next hour having them fire off everything they had. Whereupon which she then landed them at Biggen. There she grabbed the other Typhoon waiting for her and took up her squadron for more drills while the second squadron was refueled and re armed. Her squadron showed the results of the practice and experience by doing very well at the range. She then gave them another hour to practice in sections and by 2's. She then landed and went to talk to the BC and the SL. After a quick meeting with them, she took up the second squadron again for more drill and firing range practice. At 0900 she was told that the first raid was heading their way and would be there in 45 minutes. She quickly landed and made sure that all aircraft would be ready to go. She was a little worried about the ground crew they had been working constantly for hours- but the crew chief told her they could hack it. Freddy had long since decided that her Typhoon squadrons would consist of 2 flights of 2 for each section, instead of the standard 2 flights of 3. This new formation was actually going to be implemented in the regular squadrons but most were still set up on the old line. Freddy had been quietly debating inside who she was going to designate as the Squadron Leader for the 1st since it had been made clear that soon she would be the Wing Commander for Typhoons as soon as the 3rd Squadron was up and running. She decided on the candidate and let him knew that as of today he was now the Squadron Leader of the 1st Typhoon Squadron. She decided to take both Squadrons up for the battle coming. The 2nd, while having less time in Typhoons had more overall experience and should be OK. Freddy had to be gratefull to Dowding and Parks who had let her know that she had full authority to organize the Typhoon Squadrons and designate leaders as she saw fit- since the orignal Typhoon squadrons had not been meant to be operational for another month or so – there had been no decisions or designations made for who was going to be in them or who was going to lead them.

After a quick meeting with the BC and SL, Freddy had both squadrons airborne and moving towards this days first ambush. Parks had talked to her the previous evening about the Air Staffs thoughts on what the Germans would do next. Their consensus was that since the attacks now had to be expected from all sides and angles that the next raid would be bigger and have a much heavier escort- that would be prepared to respond to attacks from any point. There was also the possibility that fighters would be sent out ahead in an attempt to intercept the Typhoons well away from the bomber stream. Parks personally thought that that was the most likely scenario; but had had it pointed out to him the possibility that if the bomber commanders had made enough noise that the fighters may be tied very closely to the bombers and not allowed to go out and seek and destroy. Freddy had relayed this to the SL and the BC and they had thought about that and decided that the Spits would go out ahead of the Typhoons and if the german fighters were on a seek and destroy mode they would intercept them and try and tie them up to allow Freddy and her planes a chance to get at the bombers. If The german fighters were staying close to the bombers the Spits would hang back and let Freddy have the first pass in hopes of breaking the formations up- which would then make it a lot easier for the Spits to take down lots of bombers.

The preliminary word on this mornings attack was that it was BIG. Over 100 identified so far. Freddy had both squadrons circling at 25000 feet, waiting word from the SL who was probing towards the raid. Finally he got back to her with the good word: the fighters were being held pretty close to the bombers- no seek and destroy freedom for them. Freddy acknowledged his info and let him know that she was commencing the attack in 3 minutes. Switching back to the squadrons frequency, she got things organized. Having decided that intimidation and appearences would work just as well as results, the attack would come from the front- both squadrons in formation head on into the bomber stream.

The windshield of the Typhoons had been marked with range data on intercepting lines- so that a pilot could figure their range to target more easily. With the rockets this was critical- the 5 second 4400 ft range was clearly marked and noted. The JU88 had been the model used- and since it and the other German 2 engine bombers were all about the same size it worked quite well. This was a huge advantage for the Typhoons in that they could fire and then move off well before coming into the range of either the guns on the bombers or their fighter escorts. Since the german fighters were above and below and to the sides of the stream- but NOT in front of them- they would be unable to do anything to intercept the first attack. Freddy was very surprised that the Germans were not in front of the bombers- though as she got close she saw that they had stationed some to the rear. Why is that, she wondered, Maybe they think it is too hard for us to hit them from the front. It is the smallest target and has a high rate of closure, but still….

Oh, well, better make the best use of this oppurtunity.

Freddy looked around and checked the formation. 1st Typhoon was on her right; 2nd Typhoon was on her left. They were ready. She checked the range- it was getting close.

She keyed the mike: "ready people- take aim- ready….. FIRE!" 198 rockets spewed forth. She watched the trails head towards the bomber stream. She smiled wolfishly as already some of the bombers began to break formation and try and dodge the oncoming trails of smoky death. At the closure spead- in the order of 800+ mph- they had very little time to do anything. She had remembered at the last moment that she had to add the speed of the bombers to her calculations. Good thing or only direct hits would have occurred. As it was she had once again hit the range right on the nose. She could not count the number of bombers that exploded among the detonations- but knew there had to be at least a dozen probably more. Immediately after firing and seeing the initial bombers starting to dodge she orderd formation turns still not wanting to let the green pilots try and do things on their own. As she pulled the squadrons on a hard leftturn she spotted one of the covering german fighter squadrons from above coming after them; but noted that she had time to get them out of there. Calling for maximum speed, she maintained the turn untill they were on a 90 degree angle from the oncoming fighters. They had the speed advantage at the moment, but it would not last; the Typhoon was a faster aircraft overall. She intended to take the squadrons on a looping curve and come in behind and above the bomber formations- or what was left of it. Most of the bombers not destroyed or badly damaged had scattered somewhat- there was no real formation left. However, there was still 30-40 maintaining heading towards Biggen. The Spits were attacking two groups behind the lead bombers that were not in any kind of formation and were also having to tangle with some of the German fighter escorts. As she led the Typhoons in for the next attack- at 18000 ft, about 5000 above the bombers; Freddy saw that one german fighter squadron had stayedwith the leading bombers and was moving to intercept her and her guys. Freddy decided to see how much iron in the spines THEY had. Keying her mike, she ordered the Squadrons to give the oncoming fighters some 37 MM shells to chew on. Give them 3 shots she said. Starting …. NOW! She fired her first shot and was gratified to see one of the leading germans blow up quite well. She did not think she got anyone else, but some of the other pilots did better. She counted at least 4 more hits; and grinned as the rest of the German fighters broke it off and abandoned the bombers. Outnumbered and outgunned – she could not really blame them all that much. With the fighters out of the way, Freddy concentrated on the bombers left. Telling 1st to take her left and 2nd to take her right, she aimed at the leading bomber. And let go with 2 37 shots. It exploded. Then she aimed and did the same to the one on its right and it went up nicely too. Others were exploding and burning and smoking, diving and dodging. She saw streams of bombs fall- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. No hits on Biggen this raid.Holding the squadrons together she once again ordered them to dive and follow her; speed 450 MPH. She then took them home.

The official count for the Typhoons was 31 bombers and 7 fighters destroyed; 10 bombers and 4 fighters damaged. Freddy was credited with 4 more bringing her total to 22. She was informed that she was at this point the leading ace of the RAF. Sailor Mahan had 21. Her squadrons had accounted for more then half the total tally for the RAF that morning. Her pilots were very happy as they were told. The SL for the Spits was pretty cheefull as well; in exchange for only 2 planes, and both pilots recovered, the Spits had shot down 8 bombers and 3 fighters themselves. It was estimated that more then half the raid had been shot down or damaged and of course Biggen was once again untouched.

Parks had called her only half an hour after she was debriefed and told that the exploits of the Typhoon squadrons were going to be released to the public that afternoon. There was ot point of keeping quiet any longer- the Germans certainly knew by now that something new had been added to the mix. Freddy was informed that for the moment her identity and especially her gender was not being put out- but that it would leak anyway pretty soon. The PM and the Cabinet were debating how to handle that. A woman leading a combat wing was going to be BIG news all over the world. She was also informed that she was now Wing Commander De Lancel and that her promotions of the Squadron leaders had been approved. The bad news was that since the boffins had figured that it was likely the Germans were NOT going to hit Biggen again the loses had to be considered prohibitive- that now they were deciding on where to send them for the next raid. There were several fields that needed help; Manston especially. It had been worked over again that morning and was barely operational. That actually tended to argue against sending them there since it was not likely at this time they could get in and refueled anytime soon. Within the hour it was decided that Kenley needed and would benefit the most from having the Typhoons there. They were to load up and head there immediately. The crews and ammunition would be sent as soon as possible. Freddy decided to have the crews give the planes a good check then head out. She talked to the BC and the SL, both of whom were sorry to see her go- then hopped in her Typhoon and took off, circling above the airfield and waiting for the rest of them to form up with her. Kenley was only about 10 minutes away by air, so it would not take long.

As she got close to Kenley, Freddy called in. Kenley responded immediately giving theTyphoons clearence to land at once. As she landed, Freddy noted that the field had been worked over pretty good. All but 2 of the hangers had been destroyed, and there was a sadly impressive boneyard of wrecked fighters at the far end of the field. She was signaled to line up her squadrons right next to the Spits on alert. She noted that only 12 spits were there- they had taken some hard losses as well. I can see why we were sent here, she thought. 2 weeks into the battle and it does not look good. Freddy climbed out of her plane and approached what appeared to be the BC. She saluted and announced" Wing Commander De Lancel reporting with the 1st and 2nd Typhoon Squadrons, sir"

The tall, balding Group Captain (as Freddy now realized) was not the BC but the area Fighter commander, replied:" good to have you here Wing Commander. We need all the help we can get". Freddy looked around and responded" well, we hope to be as successful here as we were at Biggin, sir", We hope so, too. Its getting somewhat annoying having to dodge more and more craters every place you walk". "All the extra debris is probably no picnic in the park either, sir", "Quite so". Lets head out to the briefing room and meet the Squadron Leader and the Base Commander". "yes sir"

They promptly got into the Group Captains staff car and headed in.

The HQ building was pretty much undamaged except for some shattered and boarded up windows from blast damage. Inside there was no appearance of damage at all. In the briefing room after greetings were exchanged the Group Captain got right down to business. "as you undoubtedly observed as you came in, Kenley has been hit very badly and is probably only one more good going over before we have to evacuate the last squadron, which is understrength as it is. The other 2 squadrons are at satelite fields and will be there untill the facilities here are repaired. That, of course, depends on no further serious damage. Considering the tremendous success the Typhoons had at Biggin, the same success here would have us back to full capacity in 2-3 days if we get no more damage. Air Vice Marshall Parks has informed me that the next attack here will probably come in the next hour or so. There are already indications of formations starting to take off in France. The Germans should be taken completely by surprise for this attack since they would have no reason to think the Typhoons will be here. Therefore it behooves us to make this first one as great a loss for them as possible. Your thoughts, Wing Commander De Lancel?" Freddy kept herself very composed and poker faced- she knew that first impressions are hard to counter if you messed it up. "That all sounds very logical, sir, and I agree that this first raid should give us complete surprise. I intend to take both squadrons in from below and behind- this gives us the best chance to hit the enemy very hard. I need to know how they have been attacking the last few days here- specifically how close and where the fighter escorts are in relation to the bomber stream"

She looked at the Squadron Leader in question. He nodded and said"so far they have been roaming a little distance from the bombers- usually above and ahead of them so as to intercept us. They usually have left only one squadron closer to the bombers- usually behind and above. They have not had any below at all." Freddy grinned with a wolf like predatory smile. All three men were very impressed by that smile. "that is very good news, squadron leader. Exactly as I hoped. If you agree, I want you to conduct your usual attack- which I assume means you come from ahead and above and dive on the stream?"

He nodded again. "good. That should fixate most of the fighter attention allowing the Typhoons to get a very good first punch in. If things go as expected, their formation will scatter and most of the survivors will cut and run. Usually only about a third of them continue on with the mission. I will then take the squadrons on a long loop, gain altitude and make a head on attack. That should be sufficient to deter the attack. At that point, once I see the bombers are no longer a threat to Kenley, I will bring them back to the field." The Base Commander then interposed:"your ground crews and ammuntion should be here within the next hour or so- we will hold them back from the field untill after the attack- but they will be there to service and rearm your planes after that". Freddy nodded" Makes sense. No point of exposing them to any threat untill we have to. If we really hurt the Germans, it is very likely they will not attack again today. They will have to think it over" The group captain agreed"They are undoubtedly trying to come up with tactics to counter you- but just how quickly they can figure out something that will work is unknown. They will probably twig right away that you have moved from Biggen- unless they think that these are new squadrons". Freddy frowned" I doubt that sir- they must have pretty good inteligence on what we have and what we are making- they must know that since the Typhoons have not been seen before that we must only have as yet a limited number of them. It is not likely they will think we have doubled our strength in just 2 days" The GC sadly nodded "I have to agree- its not likely for the Germans to be fooled that easily. The question will be- what will they do next?" The BC shook his head" Hard to tell with the Jerries- they might try with a bigger effort here or switch back to going after Biggin thinking it will be an easy target then" Freddy thought about it:"Unless they have new tactics or are being stubborn, they will not attack where they think we are. So I would guess that Biggin would be the natural target if they think that we are here. Their recon planes must have a pretty good idea that Kenley is just about on the ropes- and that we were sent here to prevent it being knocked out. So it would be a natural choice to go after Biggin instead. Assuming we are successful here, I will ask Air Vice Marshal Parks to send us back to Biggin. I would leave our ground crews here, though. Just in case we have to make a quick return. Its no real problem as regards us going back and forth with the fields as close as they are. As a matter of fact, given good plotting and warning, we could stay at either field and be in position to block attacks for both fields." The GC looked thoughtfull" That makes a lot of sense. If we can cover both fields, that would take a great deal of pressure off of this sector." Freddy decided" I will call Air Vice Marshal Parks right now and propose that to him"

Parks had agreed with their reasoning, and gave Freddy the option of staying at either field. He made the point that if they could indeed cover both, that would allow him to reallocate other squadrons to protect other airfields, putting more pressure on the Germans. Which, as he ruefully admitted, was more then they were doing at this point. When Freddy asked him about that, he quietly told her that while the kill ratio was sufficient, the loss of pilots and the therefore greening of the whole command was something that could not be bourn, as well as the continued damage being done to airfields. Freddy herself quietly told him that they would do all they could to turn that around. Parks promptly told Freddy to take no undue risks with her command- while they hoped to have the third squadron pilots ready for her in a few days, they right now needed her command to buy them some time to recover and retrench. She could not do that if she got them blown out of the sky trying to do too much. On a much lighter note- he then congratulated her on her DFC that Air chief Marshal Dowding had just awarded her for her exploits of the last 2 days. Freddy thanked him profusely, which amused him somewhat. After the call, Freddy had a thought. DFC after the last 2 days- But we have been hurting them the last 3… Her eyes opened a little wider as she realized that those two and probably the PM, and maybe the King had something else in mind for her for the first day. Oh, well, she thought, I guess I will find out in due time.

Freddy would have been somewhat less sanguine if she had known what was going on at that time in regards to her first days missions. The PM had asked Air chief Marshal Dowding to meet him in regards to the current situation. After his briefing, the PM had looked pensive. And asked Dowding what were his thoughts right now. Dowding quietly told the PM that a great deal depended on how well they stood up in the next week. They had to increase the losses for the Germans in the hope of convincing them to change their tactics. Right now they were slowly winning. The PM then asked "and what about our charming Wing Commander". Dowding chuckled slightly and told the PM"She has been successful beyond our wildest hopes- and is today going to try and do for Kenley what she and her squadrons have done for Biggin." The PM smiled at that" I hope that my proposal for her first day has met with your approval" Dowding nodded" I agree sir, that the criteria for that award was indeed met and exceeded by her first exploits" ":Good ", grunted the PM , ":His Majesty has expressed a wish to personally award her it as soon as possible if it were to be approved" Dowding nodded again" quite appropriate considering the circumstances" The PM then gave him some information that surprised Dowding. "Her father, a French Army Colonel, is now in England having escaped from Southern France and made his way here only yesterday. He has no idea what his daughter is up to." "Judging from her record, I doubt that he will be THAT surprised", smiled Dowding. "Agreed", grinned the PM. "I intend to have him here tomorrow – the King wants to do this quickly". Dowding was somewhat sobered by that remark as he shared a look of understanding with the PM. They needed to do this quickly because aerial combat is very deadly- who knew for how long any pilot in the very midst of it would last.

Freddy looked at her controls- 12000 feet at 300 mph- circling and waiting for the oncoming attack to get there. The raid was coming it at the rather high altitude of 18000 feet for some reason. Not that the AA was all that much of a threat- but perhaps they felt that since this was meant to be the knockout blow that they did not need to go any lower for better accuracy. Freddy figured that at the standard speed of 200 mph for the bombers and 300 for her Typhoons that they would need to open fire at 4000 feet range to get the necessary damage done. That was somewhat closer then usual but still well out of the range of the bombers guns. And as the SL had predicted, there were no fighters below the bombers. Milk run, thought Freddy as she led the two squadrons in for the attack. There were about 100 or so bombers so there were plenty of targets. Just as she was getting close she looked up and saw the fighters behind the and above the bombers starting to dive towards them. TOO LATE, she thought. She keyed the mike:" ready people – mark your targets…. Ready….. FIRE!" Once again 198 rockets flung themselves forward.

Freddy took another look at the fighters- still too far away- and decided to make another attack before diving. "All right people, lets give them 2 shots from the 37. Just as she said that the rockets started going off and hitting- right in the midst of the bombers formation. Taking a quick look at the fighters- they still had time- she ordered the squadrons to take aim at the leading elements of the bomber stream- which were the only ones still heading for the target- all the others had jettisoned their bombs and turned around in panic. No time to count the tally, she thought. "All ships mark your target give them two shots then on my mark turn to heading 220 and dive at full throttle- remember to keep your speed at no higher then 500. Ready… FIRE!" Freddy had the enjoymnent of seeing her target explode and then they were away. It was a near thing- the fighters were getting close. But the heavy weight and tremendous power of the Typhoons gave them a huge advantage over the diving smaller lighter ME 109's. Some of the german fighters fired but at extreme range and scored no hits as the Typhoons pulled away from them. The spits had gotten in amongst the remaining bombers as the fighters they had been tangling with were recalled to help the besieged bombers. They chased after Freddys Typhoons in vain.

Landing at Kenley had been interesting. The cheering from the ground crews was almost embarrassing. It had been such an easy fight that to see them being treated as conquering heros after in reality having not done all that much did not set right with Freddy. It drove home to her just how bad it had been here the last 2 weeks. As she left the plane, acknowledging the ground crew, she tried to maintain a calm demeanor. The Group Captains car was waiting for her, but first she made sure that her pilots would have transportation back to the barracks for a good meal befoe their next fight. Of course this would come after the debriefing, though that would not take too long. Freddy found that she was credited with 4 more kills , giving her 26 and was told that her lead on Sailor Mahan was increasing as he had only gotten one early that morning. The meeting with the Group captain, BC, and SL had been quick as well. They had discussed the possible tactics for the next raid but all felt somewhat confident that the Germans would not be back that day. They had lost at least 30 bombers destroyed and at least another dozen damaged. Freddy's group had been credited with 24 bombers destroyed and 8 damaged. Their totals were once again almost half of the confirmed bomber kills for the whole morning so far. Freddy looked at her watch and noted the time- 1000. Odds were there would be at least an hour or more before the next raid showed up. So she decided to head over to the WAAF's barracks to get a real bath.

It was a little hard going there- she was treated as if she were Royalty. But the bath was worth the embarrassment. Afterwards she headed out to the flight line. At 1130 the word came down that the next raid was 40 minutes out. Freddy got the squadrons together and after a quick briefing got them up in the air. Figuring that whichever field was the target that the Germans would not be caught by surprise this time Freddy decided to go for altitude and dive on the bombers from behind. If the german fighters tried to interfere a load of 37's and some 20's would be sent their way. After 20 minutes she had them at 25000 feet. The word came down that Biggin was the target. Freddy headed her people that way after confering quickly with Biggin by radio. She asked that the Spits hold back untill after their first pass and then wade in. Acknowledgement was given.there were some clouds at this altitude and that was going to be a big advantage for the Typhoons. They knew from where the Germans were going to be coming and at what altitude. The Germans were coming in somewhat low today- at 12000 feet. The word was the Fighters were in two groups split evenly with half right with the bombers and the other half split just a few thousand feet above and below the Bombers. Freddy shook her head- the Germans were being real stupid. If they had sent their fighters out to seek out and destroy the british fighters they would be better off. One should not object when your enemy makes a mistake, Napoleon had said. And Freddy agreed. She was able to keep her squadrons from being spotted by keeping them in the clouds untill they commenced their dive- right out of the sun. The Germans favorite tactic used on them – ironic, thought Freddy. They were almost at the firing point before the Germans saw them- too late to do much about the first pass. Once again 198 rockets flew forth and detonated on or near the middle and front of the bomber stream. More then a dozen bright flashes denoted immediate destructions; more showed bad damage, and the whole formation came apart. Maintaining the dive, Freddy ordered each squadron to individually target and fire their 37's. Using her own, 2 more bombers went up in flames at hits right in the bomb loads. Several fighters tried to challenge her, but a couple of bursts from her 20's cooled their ardor. Then she was through the bomber stream and heading dead ahead. Freddy looked around and realized that her Typhoons had managed to stay with her- mostly intact formations. Calling for them to head at course 188, and maintain a speed of 400, and go for 8000 feet she put the throttle forward.

Calling out for reports Freddy was glad to hear of no damage and everyone accounted for. As both squadrons formed up on her, she checked over her shoulder to see what the bombers were doing. A stubborn group of a dozen or so were maintaining their course butnot for long as she saw Biggin's Spits suddenly attack them. All the German fighters had either scattered or were chasing her- leaving the formation naked of cover. Freddy brought the group around in a wide arc, taking her time so as to keep the german fighters interested while the Spits got to work. Another look told her that no bombers were left heading for the field. So Freddy turned and headed towards Kenley. Giving the frustrated Germans no oppurtunity to get anywhere near the Typhoons by maintaining 10000 ft and a high speed that the ME 109's had no hope of matching on the level. Another good raid, thought Freddy.

The debriefers and everyone else agreed. She was given credit for 3 more bombers, bringing her total up to 29. The Squadrons were credited with a total of 27. And 2 fighters had been added to their total as ones that had gotten in the way and been blown out of the sky. The thought was that some more probably were as well since they had been close to the bombers when the rockets hit, but it was hard to verify them. The number of damaged bombers were hard to verify since the cloud cover had obscured the ground observers to some degree. They had been able to count the number of bombers seen just before the rocket salvo and just immediately after so the number taken out was pretty hard wired; after that it was more speculative. The info from the Biggin spits would be needed to flesh out the numbers. Another call from Parks was equally congratulatory. Freddy was also told to get a dress uniform and report to Fighter Command HQ at 1800 that evening. Freddy had no idea how she would get such a uniform at short notice. It was 1300 and she still might have another fight that day. She doubted it- but it could happen. She asked the Group Captain how in the world would she get a dress uniform- it would have to be a male one since none was authorized for Females who were not supposed to be part of the Regular RAF anyway. The Group Captain assured her that it would not be a problem. Freddy eyed him and decided that he knew more then he was letting on. But only a Cheshire type- or was it a cat after he got the canary type- of smile was his only response to a pointed question.

There were no more attacks aimed in their direction that afternoon. At 1400 Freddy took up both squadrons for an hour of drills and practice. Upon landing she decided that they were about ready to be on their own. Mostly. The Group Captains car was waiting for her and to her surprise it did not take her to HQ but into the nearby town and straight to a very upscale looking mens clothing store or tailors- she wasn't sure. Escorted inside by the grinning driver, she was met by an old, very dignified tailor who proceeded to measure her all over- somewhat to her embarrassment but seemingly not his. She was then told that her dress uniform would be ready for her by 1700. When asked how much this would cost it was waived off as already taken care of. Freddy, somewhat bemused by all this, was taken back to Kenley. She took another bath while there and dressed in casual garb- figuring she could dress at the tailor shop. Much to her surprise the uniform was waiting for her at HQ when she stopped by to ask about a car at 1645. Rushing back to the WAAF's barracks Freddy was astonished by the dress uniform- it looked GREAT.

Putting it on was a little hard but she managed. She walked out of the barracks at 1715 and found a very posh Rolls Royce waiting for her- flying the Royal Flag! She was informed that the KING had decided that she needed very special transportation. Freddy was beginning to get scared of what awaited her.

Freddy noticed that under the National Flag at RAF Fighter Command HQ was flying the Royal Flag. As she stepped out of the Rolls, she was confronted by an HONOR GUARD of the Household Guard, at rigid attention. Blushing somewhat, but with her head high, Freddy marched as best she could into the building. There in the main lobby stood Air Vice Marshal Parks- also in full dress uniform complete with sword. Freddy realized that SHE had no sword and should have one with her dress uniform. Parks smiled at her and from behind his back presented her with a dress sword complete with belt and accroutements. His assistant, also in dress, quickly helped Freddy put it on.

Parks then briefed her on how to walk with it and be ready for a Royal Presentation. Freddy could almost hear her knees knocking and her eyes got very wide and fearfull.

Parks seemed somewhat amused at the site of a warrior that had faced death and hundreds of german bombers and fighters but was scared much more by this. He led her up the main stairs into the office of Air Chief Marshal Dowding. In that office instead of Dowding was someone else that the sight of that person further shook Freddy to her core.

Forgetting everything else she rushed forward and hugged her FATHER. "Daddy" was the only thing she was able to say. Colonel De Lancel was also pretty much speechless at the site of his youngest daughter in the full dress uniform of a RAF Wing Commander, complete with the ribbon for the DFC. He had only been given a few facts by Dowding, who was thouroughly enjoying this momentary respite from the rigors of the current battle. That his daughter had flown right into combat had not exactly shocked him; that she was now doing it every day officially and with full authorization as a senior RAF officer was the shocking part. But just seeing her meant so much. He had felt so much guilt at how he had treated her just because she loved to fly that it had eaten away at him for years. Now to see her, as a true war hero, using those skills he had so completely and angrily dismissed, to defeat the Germans truly filled him with chagrin and guilt. But the joy on her face at seeing him made up for it all. She was so beautiful- and amazingly the male dress uniform only accented her beauty. "oh daddy, I am so happy to see you, I just can't say". Colonel De Lancel just hugged her and said very little himself- except to make sure she heard him tell her just how proud he was of her. Freddy stepped back finally, and saw that her father was looking pretty good himself. She immediately asked about her mother and sister. Unfortunately only her mother had been in recent, if clandestine, contact. Of her sister not much was known, except that she seemed to still be in Paris and still making what movies were allowed at this time. "Well, that is better then what all too many are hearing now" said Freddy. "Quite so" from her father. A discreet knock at the door and Parks assistant poked his head in. "Colonel De Lancel, Wing Commander, we need to go to the main briefing room now". As Freddy and her father, arm in arm, headed out behind him, Freddy asked her father if he knew what was going on. "Not much. I do know the King is here right now and that there is some presentation that is going to happen. I am getting the feeling that it involves you. I see that you already are wearing the DFC, so it cannot be that. It must be a higher award- but I do not know what it could be. Not that there are many above the DFC. At least as far as I know." Freddy was thinking hard at the possibility that had struck her ever since the other day when she had been awarded the DFC and had realized the commendation made no mention of her first battle. "I have an idea –but it is so wild I hesitate to even mention it". "well we will find out soon enough" he said.

Freddy and her father were led into the room to find that all the tables and such had been moved out and in their place stood the King, with Air Vice Marshal Parks on his left and Air Chief Marshal Dowding on his right. Behind him was the National Flag and the Royal flag. Dowding was holding what looked like a pillow with something on it. Both Freddy and her father came to a stop and stood at attention. A Horse Guards officer in resplendent uniform holding a sword at attention announced:"God Save the King" and off to the side a small band played the National Anthem. At its conclusion the officer announced:" Wing Commander Fredrica De Lancel" Freddy stepped forward to within 3 paces of the King and saluted. The King returned the salute with a flourish and then turned towards Dowding who presented the pillow. The King picked up the medal that was on the pillow and turned towards Freddy. Freddy recognized the medal and felt faint.

The King stated:" Wing Commander Fredrica De Lancel, on the behalf of a gratefull nation, I hereby present you with the Victoria Cross, awarded for gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty" HE then placed the Medal around her neck. The Horse Guard Officer then read from the commendation:" On August 21, 1940, then flight officer De Lancel, while ferrying an aircraft to Biggin Hill RAF Base, did take flight and prevent an attack on said base by direct action against the enemy, during which she was responsible for 8 aircraft destroyed and the total prevention of any damage to the aerodrome. This was done despite being considered a non combatant, and totally on her own recognizance. In the highest tradition of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, she is hereby awarded the Victoria Cross." Still completely stunned, Freddy managed to remember enough to once agains salute the king, bow and back away, remaining at attention beside her father. Then to make it more surreal, out walked the PM from the side where he had stood next to the band and walk up to Freddy and shake her hand, saying" Congratlulations my dear, rarely has this award been more deserved then yours" Freddy managed to say thank you in a small voice. The twinkle in his eye became more pronounced. He then turned to her father, who was still somewhat in shock himself, and smiled" I imagine you are very proud and at the same time very shocked, I'll bet, Colonel De Lancel" Freddy meanwhile noticed that the King had quietly left the room with his escort and the Horse Guards officer. Dowding and Parks came forward to add their congratulations. A very dazed Freddy managed to salute and shake their hands without fainting, which she considered quite a feat.

Parks and Dowding took mercy on Freddy by telling her that the ceremony was over and that she was free to leave and spend time with her father before reporting back to Kenley in the morning. They then took their leave and Freddy and her father were left alone in the room. Her father turned to her and said- "They were correct- I have never been more proud of anyone at anytime then of you right now" Freddy, after the years of separation and estrangement, burst into tears. Her father hugged her and told her to let it all out. After a couple of minutes, Freddy straightened up, took the handerchief he offered her, wiped her eyes and blew her nose. Smiling up at him mistily, she said:"well, I guess we should find a place to get something to eat and talk for a while." He agreed and they walked out of the room, arm in arm. The lobby was vacant, as they walked out of the building the Rolls Royce was still there with the driver patiently waiting. He stood at rigid attention and saluted them- very specifically towards Freddy, and stated"I have been instructed to take you where you please, Wing Commander, and then return you to Kenley." Freddy smiled at him and asked" where would be a good place to go that we could get something to eat and be able to talk for a while?" He smiled and said"I know just the place, maam" Freddy and her father got in the Rolls and sat back. The car wound its way around the back roads for about 20 minutes before stopping in a small town and in front of what looked like a combination pub and restaruant. Freddy and her father got out and the driver said" I will be back to pick you up in 2 hrs maam- I wish it could be longer but I have orders to have you back to kenley by 2300" Freddy nodded at him and turned to her father; he presented his arm and they walked into the building.

Inside they found it to be neither brightly lit nor too dim to see. An old man was waiting for them. He bowed to Freddy and said" Right this way, Wing Commander, Colonel" he escorted them into a dining room sparsely occupied to a table by a window.

Freddy noted that few of the patrons gave them any notice. The Old man gallantly held her chair for her as she sat down. When she thanked him, he quietly said" Maam, I have a grandson who is at Biggin on the ground crew for the Spitfire squadron. For what you have done for him and all of us, this is the very least I could do" Freddy blushed and nodded at him. He then gave them 2 menues and said" Anything on that menu that you want, and if it is not on there we will get it" Freddy blushed again and thanked him.

Freddy looked at her father- they had barely been able to talk in the car. Now it seemed that trying to start up again would be just as hard. Freddy decided to take the lead- she had been passive more then enough so far this day. "Have you an idea of what you are going to do, father?". He smiled at her"I have already had a meeting with the Free French people- we are still getting organized but we know that many in France will not bow down before the Germans and even less to those traitors in Vichy. Probably staff work here, then more then likely I will be going to North Africa to the Free French forces that have announced down there. We shall see". He then looked at her, smiled, and said"Now I want to hear the whole story from beginning to end"

2 hrs later Freddy and her father were on their way to Kenley. The Driver had told her that since he was going back to london and Buckingham Palace, he would have no trouble dropping her father off at the london Motel where he was staying with the rest of the Free French officers. Arriving at Kenley, Freddy was glad to see that most everyone was already asleep or otherwise occupied, and she did not have to meet anyone she knew.

Standing besides the car, she gave her father one last hug, thanked the driver, and walked into the WAAF barracks.

She found out that not everyone had gone to sleep after all. Susan and Tammy were wating for her- how they had gotten here was another matter. After the hugs and greetings, both of them grew huge eyed at the sight of her uniform and the medal still hanging around her neck. "this is incredible, I mean we got the bare bones story when we got here but this is just …." Words failed Susan for one of the only times Freddy could remember. Tammy chimed in"this is bigger then big- I mean, the VICTORIA CROSS. You now a WING COMMANDER. Leading squadrons in combat. It just does not get any bigger!". Freddy smiled at them and said:"Look at it from my point of view- it's a whole lot bigger!" They laughed. Susan then said" we were brought here to ferry in some more Spits- and when we got here were told to stay for a while and keep you company. The Goup Captain had a very particular twinkle in his eye when he told us that you would need some familiar faces to see and talk to. I had no idea just what he meant but now its all becoming clear." They walked up the stairs to the second floor where the senior WAAF officers stayed. Freddy had found out that only 2 were there instead of the 6 that there was room for, so Susan and Tammy had their own room and Freddy of course had her own room as well. Deciding to go into theirs, since it was on the side of the building farthest away from the others, so as not to wake them up, Freddy was pulled into their room and sat on a chair and told to fess up EVERYTHING.

Blearily, Freddy looked at the clock next to her bed. 0600. UGH. She really should not have stayed up till 0100 talking but she felt she needed to decompress and relax. Now she was paying the price. Groaning, she slowly got out of bed, thankfull that the second floor had its own shower facilities. Stumbling out of her room, she found that the other WAAF officers had already left and Susan and Tammy will still dead to the world. Taking a quick cold shower- at least it woke her up- she got dressed in her normal flight uniform and headed down the stairs and towards the mess hall.

Freddy was glad that not to many people gave her much notice- she figured that very few here at the base had any idea what had happened last night and she was very gratefull. After getting her plate she realized that the BC was signalling her over to the senior officers table. Grimmacing slightly- she would have preferred to eat by herself- she headed over. Nodding to the BC and the SL she sat down. Then she realized they were both grinning at her. Frowning, she shot out"What?" That made them grin even more. Her eyes narrowed"Just what do you know?" The BC smiled and told her"the Group Captain just briefed us both in a little while ago. We need to make sure you have that purple ribbon attached to your flight uniform as soon as possible" The SL smiled"Regulations, you know". Freddy lowered her head and banged it against the table a couple of times. Then she looked at them and growled" I really wish no one would know about that for at least a little while" The BC chuckled and shook his head." The public announcement of THAT will not be for a day or two but the word about your exploits will be out today. The Newsies will be after you like nobody's business real soon. And once THAT gets out it will get a lot worse" he said cheefully. Freddy glared at him"Thanks a lot. Something to look forward to" The BC twinkled at her and grinned" Being a hero is a lot of work. NOW you have to act like one. WHICH could be even harder" Freddy just shook her head. Starting on her breakfast, she asked the BC and SL if they had heard anything RELATED to actually fighting or something MINOR like that. They laughed and told her that right now everything was to remain as it was. The BC told her that the pilots for the 3rd Squadron had been selected and that they would be on their way to Biggin in the next 2 days. The planes would be ferried there by members of the 1st Squadron since they had the most experience. Freddy nodded at that- it made sense. She finished her breakfast and told them that she would be heading over to operations and would be talking to her pilots. She felt that they might be able to get some training time in this morning before the first raid. The BC then smiled at her and told her that her friends had grabbed one of her spare tunics and that the base tailor was already adding her ribbon, and it would be ready very soon. Freddy rolled her eyes at that but said nothing.

As a matter of fact, the tailor was waiting for her at the WAAF barracks when she got back from breakfast. He presented her tunic to her with a bow then a VERY RIGID salute, as befitting, he said, someone with the Purple Ribbon. Freddy blushed as she returned the salute and thanked him. Luckily there was no one else at the barracks when that happened. She went upstairs to find that Susan and Tammy were finaly up. A little bleary eyed themselves she was glad to see. She told them that she was about to head over to operations and talk to her pilots- they grinned at her and said they would be down to the flight line themselves in a bit after they had eaten breakfast. Freddy rolled her eyes then went into her room to change tunics. She looked at herself in the mirror. A Wing Comander with THAT ribbon as well as her DFC ribbon. VERY distinguished looking. But she did not feel VERY distinguished. She sat on her bed for a minute and contemplated her world which had never been all that normal but now was as far from it as it was possible to be. I am not yet 21 but I feel years older; I have huge responsibilities that have been placed on me by very smart people who apparently believe I can do what they expect. WHAT do they see in me that makes them think so?

Freddy shook her head- it does not matter now. Like a snowball rolling downhill, it started small and kept getting bigger and rolling faster, running over everything in its way.

Freddy walked into operations and found both squadrons of her pilots waiting for her.

As one they jumped up at rigid attention and saluted. Blushing furiously, she returned the salute and told them to be at ease and sit down. She looked around and remarked"Now just how many times did you guys rehearse that?" They grinned at her. "Ok people, enough of that, lets get down to business. It is now 0730 and at this time there is no word of any attacks heading our way- but it is early so that could change. We are now charged with trying to keep both Biggin and Kenley free of attack- so just like yesterday we will have to get up there early and wait and see what happens. I intend to spend some of today on practice and drills (groans from the pilots) YES I mean it- despite our success we are ALL still green and relatively inexperienced. If we have to break up into sections and flights it will be a lot harder then it has been- and THAT will happen sooner or later. If there is no sign that we are the target this morning we will not only practice formation and section and flight tactics but we will also do some more practice firing. Sooner or later you will all have to make judgements on when you are in range with the rockets and

how to make the calculations on when to fire. More practice getting used to firing the 37 and the wing guns cannot help but benefit you as well. That is all for the moment – I recommend you relax and rest up- one way or another you will get plenty of work today"

They all stood up as she walked out.

She went into the operations center and leaned over the railing to look at the big board. It showed the entire British Isles as well as Northern France and most of the channel coast. Already formations were being plotted over France that would be heading their way. She walked over to the GC who was standing nearby, saluted, and asked if he had any orders for her. "Not at this time, Wing Commander, it is still early yet to see where they are heading. So far I see no reason to change what worked yesterday. I would not at all be adverse to them ignoring us, both here and Biggin, today, but we shall see. If they have twigged that you are now watching both Biggin and Kenley, and they very well could have figured that out, they just might decide that avoiding both is the smart play right now. Then again they might decide to throw a huge raid right at us in an attempt to overwhelm us. That would indeed be a bit of a sticky wicket. The numbers so far do not indicate anything like that, but as I said its still early. If any of the formations shown so far head our way the size of the attack would be comparable to yesterday. Time is growing short for them- they must know that they cannot delay the invasion much beyond the middle of September if they are to have any good weather at all- and considering that theymust use barges good weather is an absolute. What you and your squadrons have done over the last few days is the first real big defeat they have had- and it will be very interesting indeed to see how they respond." Freddy nodded."Have the boffins had any thoughts on how they might respond?" He shook his head. "They have no real idea- beyond what they have already suggested- which is to send out fighter squadrons to hunt you down before you can get near the bombers. I do not see what else they could do that would be effective- staying close to the bombers clearly has not worked. So I think they must try that sooner or later. Have you any thoughts about how to respond if they do that?" Freddy lowered her head for a moment; then raised up and looked him in the eye" the only way to counter that is to have Spits moving ahead of the Typhoons to engage their fighters and clear the way for us to get in at the bombers. The Typhoon is not suited to dogfight- not against ME 109's certainly. " The GC nodded slowly" That is my thought as well. The SL here agrees. BUT we do not have enough fighters to be able to counter more then one squadron. It is very likely they will have several out there to do that if they do it at all." Freddy shook her head"I know- and I think I need to kick this upstairs and have them think about that some. The Third squadron will be coming together in the next few days- they are due here sometime today- and we need to start thinking about things like that. I will go and see if I can get ahold of Air Vice Marshal Parks ands see what he has to say. Undoubtedly this will probably require a decision by Air Chief Marshal Dowding" The GC nodded and said" Lets go to my office you can make the call on my scrambler"

Suprisingly it only took a few minutes to get Parks on the phone. After Freddy made her request to have the new proposed tactic considered, Parks had immediately told her that the thinking there had gone along the same lines. "Right now we are looking at bringing 2 extra squadrons of Spits, one each to Biggin and Kenley, to serve as escorts to force them aside to allow the Typhoons to get in at the bombers. We should have them there this morning sometime. It does not look like any big raids this morning- more harrassment and recon it seems. So we should have time. Put the GC on and I will give him the details" Freddy handed the phone to the Group Captain and sat in a chair and started thinking. 2 squadrons of Spits – should she have them link up with each of hers or have them operate separetly? The point is to blast a hole through the escorts to get in the bombers. IF things went as expected, more fighters would come forward to try and intercept the Typhoons. So the trick would be to pick the weak point and attack there.

That could only be done on the fly- the decision made there and then. It could not be made ahead of time. Concentrate all together or have them separate and then concentrate?

Problem with that was getting it done in the middle of a battle or at least the beginning of one. No, its better to have them together- but the scout needs to be forward to give the lay of the land. Who will that be? Someone who can tell and make the call. Someone experienced and not shy about taking responsibility. Far enough ahead to give the formation time to maneuver to peak advantage. Freddy looked up at the GC who had just finished the call and she then let him know what she was thinking. He listened, thought for a minute, and nodded. " sounds like a good plan. But you are right in that it will need someone up forward who can recognize the german formations and make quick decisions there and then. But we are lucky- the SL from the 111 will be here with his squadron in an hour or so. He is VERY experienced and certainly not shy about taking responsibility.

As a matter of fact he is due for a promotion to Wing Commander- but we need experienced SL'a more then we need Wing Commanders. I think it is time for him to let go of his squadron and take a more general responsibility. I will call Parks back and suggest his promotion be made today- that will give him the authority to direct all the Squadrons." He picked up the phone.

Squadron Leader Guy Williams was thinking hard as he flew his Spit towards Kenley. He was very aware that he was living on borrowed time as a SL- he knew his promotion was only being delayed because of the need for experienced Squadron Leaders. Better enjoy this while I can, he thought. It's a good thing my #2 is ready for command because I have a hunch its not going to be long. This whole thing sounds very patchwork built. He had gotten the word on how the new Typhoons were mowing down the German bombers and had been impressed with the numbers in spite of his natural skepticism.

This Freddy De Lancel- he had not heard of him before- but apparently he had the golden touch. Over 70 bombers destroyed – confirmed ones too, he had been told- in just 3 days. Of course firing masses of powerfull rockets right into the German Bomber formations would tend to cause a lot of havoc. That made sense- even if you did not get many hits andit was apparent that they were getting only a little over 15 hits- that many explosions and carnage will almost certainly scatter formations- making them more vulnerable- and the lilly livered ones to jettison their bombs and run for home. Just a little over 2 hours ago he had been informed he was being moved to Kenley in order to assist in the continued operations of the new Typhoon squadrons. He had gathered that they were probably going to be used to keep the German fighters off of the Typhoons while they bore in to hit the bombers. Logical, he thought- that had been done somewhat with using Spits or Hurricanes to attack the fighters to allow the others a freer hand with bombers. This would be about the same only the up side could be much higher. If they could keep up that kind of loss ratio with the bombers for a week or so, this battle would be over. The Germans could not afford those kinds of losses. Of course it depends on us being able to execute that well, and getting enough Typhoons concentrated to do the job.

Right now there were only 2 squadrons, with a third forming. Very Green, he thought. They certainly would need escorting. He had not seen a Typhoon, but he had seen the specs and he agreed that there was no way you could dogfight a 109 with a typhoon. The Germans found that out the hard way with their ME 110- the so called DestroyeR fighter.

Too big, heavy and underpowered. Spits and even Hurricanes ate them right up. Well we shall see how it goes. I wonder what kind of a chap this Freddy is- does sound like he knows what he is doing. That is always a good thing.

Freddy had been informed that no raids were heading there way- which while a relief still kind of disapointed her. She wanted to get up there and get at it. Well, that was not going to happen anytime soon. She had also been informed that 111 squadron was due in shortly. She was very nervous about meeting its SL- who would be informed of his promotion as soon as he landed and came into operations. How would he react to taking orders from a woman who would also be his senior- if only by a day or so? Freddy knew she was the one on te hot seat. Parks and Dowding were giving her a lot of room- or was it a lot of rope with which to hang herself, she wondered. No that was unfair to them- they were the ones taking big risks and doing things never done before. She Knew the PM was supporting them- but she had heard rumblings that the rest of the cabinet were not fans of either Dowding or Parks. Politicians like to think they know a lot more then they do, she thought scornfully. Still, both of them were sticking their necks way out there for her- and taking big risks with the battle in doubt. Though maybe not that big of a risk, she thought. This is only a small part of the battle. And SO FAR it had gone beyond anyones wildest hopes. As long as they were successful there would be no problems with the politicians- they would not dare do anything now. Later was another story. She was waitng in the Group Captains office for the new WC to get there.

This was going to be interesting she thought- hopefully not a cluster.

Guy Williams walked up the stairs at Kenley RAF HQ to see the group captain. He wondered why this was happening in his office rather then at operations. Well, I willknow soon. He was shown into the GC's office – saw him standing there waiting for him, and saluted. Out of the corner of his eye he knew there was someone in the corner of the office but his attention was on the GC. "Congratulations, Wing Commander Williams on your new promotion" he said, handing him his new rank insignia. I guess I knewthis was coming, but I hoped it would be a little later, he thought. He thanked the GC. The Group captain smiled and said" What we are doing here is very different, Wing Commander. I know you have been briefed on the New Typhoons and what we are doing with them. I imagine you have an idea of what your former squadron will be doing?" "Yes, sir, I pretty much thought that escorting the Typhoons and getting them into the bomber stream is the idea." The GC smiled and said "correct. But there is more to it. First let me introduce Wing Commander Freddy De Lancel." Guy turned towards De Lancel and inspite of himself his mouth dropped open. DE Lancel was a WOMAN. Not only a woman,but a beautiful one at that. AND she was wearing the DFC ribbon and …

THE PURPLE RIBBON. A woman Wing Comander, awarded both the DFC and the VC? Guy Williams for one of the few times in his life was totally adrift and without a rudder.

Freddy had to smile at the look on his face- it really was not fair for the GC and the rest to drop it all on him like that. She stepped forward and held out her hand. Dazedly he shook it slowly. Freddy smiled at him and tried to help him out. " It is very bad of them to not warn you at all about me. Though the press were only given some details this morning, the fact that I am a woman is not yet out there, though obviously it will not take long. Everything has happened so fast that we are all trying to catch up. 4 days ago I was a pilot officer- now I am a wing commander. Four days ago I was a ferry pilot- now I am leading 2 squadrons, soon to be 3, of the newest planes in the RAF into combat in the middle of the greatest air battle in history. So you certainly should not feel bad about being rocked back on your heels. Look at it from my point of view." Guy Williams slowly nodded and blinked." Well, I am shocked in a way that I never thought I would be. On the other hand, you have been incedibly successful. I understand that right now you are the leading ACE in the RAF, and that is something that any fighter pilot can understand. I also believe that you have not had one single casualty despite racking up quite an impressive kill record. That to me is just as impressive if not more so"

Freddy was impressed by his ability to regain his balance. This is good, she thought.

Maybe there will not be as many problems as I thought we might have.

The Goup Captain invited them both to sit down while they started making plans.

Guy was glad to get off of his feet- he really wanted a drink but knew that was not happening any time soon. He took another quick look at her. God she was young- if she was more then 22 or 23 he would eat his Spit. Gorgeous as well. She could be a pinup girl, he thought. Glad I am 26, or I would be unable to keep my tongue in my mouth.

Freddy was also liking what she saw. Tall, dark brown hair, gorgeous gray eyes. WOWA, Freddy- hold it. Keep your mind out of the gutter and on business.

The Group Captain had of course noticed the sparks right away. He also noticed that they both pulled back despite their interest and concentrated on the matters at hand. Good, he thought, the last thing I needed was them mooning over one another. Williams was mature enough that he was not surprised; and Freddy had equally responded and then pulled back. As young as she was, she had been through a lot and while still very young in years she was far older in terms of experience and maturity. They are going to have to work well together if this is to work at all- I hope it will.

It was decided that Williams would indeed be the scout and make the calls about when and where to concentrate the spits. A call was made to Biggin to talk to both SL's there. Freddy wanted to try and test out the formations and the tactics that morning. Williams agreed that as long as it looked as if there were no raids coming their way they needed to take advantage of that break to practice tactics and get used to working together. Freddy wondered if they could get all 6 squadrons together to meet one another and try and get used to each other. The Group Captain said that that would be too many aircraft at one field for the ground crews to be able to refuel quickly- and that could catch them unprepared for a raid. Williams agreed and said that while it would be good to do, practically speaking it did not seem possible at that time. Freddy nodded in agreement. The Group Captains phone rang and he answered it- had a quick conversation- then looked at Freddy as he hung up. "your 3rd Squadron just arrived, Wing Commander".

Freddy excused herself and went down to meet them on the flight line.

The Group Captain and the Wing Commander looked at each other and sighed. Then they chuckled. "she is hell on wheels, sir". "Yes she is. And all in all that is a good thing now in this time and place". "Just how old is she sir?" The Group Captain looked at him and sighed "She just turned 21 last week". Guys's eyes widened. "She is younger then I thought". "Yes, but she has been flying since 12, stunt flying, since she was 16. Her instuctor was a top ace from the first war. They spent a lot of time dogfighting in between movies- and he apparently taught her everything he knew. She probably has more total flying hours them most of the squadrons put together. So while she is very young in years, that is about the only place she is very young in." Williams nodded. "that makes a big difference- that kind of varied experience is very valuable now. That also explains why she does not seem intimidated by anyone or anything. She has pretty much seen it all as regards to flying."

Freddy arrived on the flight line to see her other 2 squadrons talking to the newbies.

Upon seeing her the entire group stood at attention then snapped a salute. Freddy returned it then "At Ease people. No point of standing on ceremony. Its not like we have that much time. 1st and 2nd Squadrons, man your planes. We are going up to do some drills and get some practice in. It does not appear we have to worry about any raids for a while at least. Take off in sections and get up to 15000 feet- I will be up in a little bit but first I need to talk to the third." She signaled for the 3rd to gather around. "You all know my name- and the truly strange and bizzare situation that has left me as a Wing Commander in charge of all of you. Lets leave it at that. Now Line up and introduce yourself. Name rank and flight hours in what aircraft." As they did that Freddy evaluated them. They looked a lot like the 2nd group- with some experience, once again coastal command mostly. They looked as good as the 2nd group, at least at first glance. After they had introduced themselves, she had the 4 senior officers among them step forward.

She looked at the 4; asked them what experience they had beyond regular flying. They looked promising. The oldest one- who looked about 25- also had the most hours in and the most varied experience. Taking a deep breath, she informed the four of them that they were now section leaders, and nodding towards him, that he was now acting Squadron Leader. He looked startled at that, then said" Wing Commander, we were under the impression that a more experienced officer would take that position." Freddy smiled slightly at that."There are no experienced officers available- and no one who knows how to fly a Typhoon." She pointed over to the right side of the flight line where the new planes had been parked after being ferried over by the 1st squadron last night. I know I am thowing you guys into the pool at the deep end and expecting you to sink or swim, but that is the situation we are in. You will not be in combat today, tomorrow or probably even the day after that. BUT you will be in combat soon. I will give you as much time as I can- but it will be limited. At this time I am the senior Typhoon pilot on flying status- the test pilot that taught me got in an automobile accident and will be laid up for months. Right now I want you to go over your aircraft- you can pick which one you want- and learn it on the ground. You can observe our drills from down here -somewhat." Freddy then walked over to her plane, climbed in, started her up, and took off.

Over the next 2 hrs Freddy ran the two squadrons ragged – making them split into sections and practice attacks and escape and evasion from attacks; then after calling operations and making sure nothing was headed their way had them fire off their weapons at the range for more pracice. She then sent them down to refuel and re arm. She landed and took onlylong enough to refuel then took up the third squadron. She only had them up for an hour, and had to be gentle with them as they were just getting used to a new plane. At the end of the hour she decided to have them fire their weapons as well. They did not do too bad for newbies, she thought. Upon landing she proceeded to gather them all together for a critique. Then she sent them out to eat lunch but to get right back afterwards. Freddy then went in search of the Wing Commander. She found him in operations observing the days battles. It had been a relatively light day, mostly recon and harrassment attacks. He nodded at her and told that after ensuring that his #2 had been promoted to take over the squadron, he had gotten ahold of the two SL's at Biggin and the SL here and had gone over some ideas with them. Freddy then asked what they had come up with. " we figured that we need to keep the group together – to be able to mass and hit the jerries in one big swipe and move them out of the way, engaging them heavily. That should get you to the bombers relatively unscathed." Freddy nodded at that, then said" If the germans are together that should work quite well- but what if they are scattered and start to mass and move our way?" He shrugged." Then we will have to engage them squadron by squadron. But as long as we are together that should work. I guess it will be up to me to handle that part of the battle. The rest will be yours." Freddy agreed."It will get tougher once the third is operational- I am betting that Group will want to start spredding us out to cover more airfields. And directing 3 squadrons into an attack will make things pretty complicated. I want to keep them together as long as I can- the more experience and practice I can get them the longer they will last once they are on their own."

For the rest of the day Freddy pushed and prodded and taught and led by example. By 1700 she was worn out and so were all 3 squadrons. But they had learned a lot and gotten in almost 6 hours of flying for the first 2 squadrons and over 4 for the 3rd. She felt that the 3rd in a pinch could become operational the next day, but she hoped to have at least one more before she made that decision. She had called up Parks and informed him of that. He was pleasently surprised that they were coming along that fast, but understood when she told him how much flying they had done that day. He let her know that the boffins had predicted that tomorrow, as long as the weather was good, that the Germans would probably take a shot at maybe both Kenley and Biggin with a large raid. He also let her know that the whole story of the Typhoons had been given to the press- at least her part of it. And they of course were clamoring to interview her. Freddy blanched at that and asked if they could sit on that for at least a year or two. Parks laughed and said maybe for a few more days but that would be it. If the weather went bad then she would have to face the music. He told her that the weather experts predicted bad weather in 3 days that would probably last for at least one day and maybe two. Freddy would be on the hot seat then. Freddy dryly thanked him for that. With a cheery good luck he rang off.

Freddy told her pilots at 1800 to turn in and rest up- the boffins had predicted that the Germans would be after them tomorrow. She wanted them up and ready to go at dawn.

Freddy went then and found the Wing Commander and they proceeded to go to the mess hall for supper. They debated tactics of breaking up the bomber stream and coping with the fighters. Freddy was of the opinion that delegating the spit squadrons one at a time to take on the ME 109's had good points and bad points. The good points was that you would be able to handle different squadrons of 109's as they came at them. The bad point was that your were sending them in in smaller numbers then a whole group at once. Williams agreed with that and that he preferred to keep them together and use them en mass. But what if they all went in then another squadron or two showed up. Freddy asked him if he had seen something like that happen- or did the germans work on the mass theory as well? He said that it had not happened that way so far in this batttle, and in France it had seemed to be the same. But this was a different situation- the german bombers had suffered badly and something had to change. They had been kept close to the bombers the last time out and it had not worked. So he was of the opinion that the Germans would keep several squadrons together or send them out one at a time to seek out the Typhoons and then call in the rest of them. Freddy pointed out that they must have noticed that the last time there were escorts for the Typhoons and that had stymied the Germans. So it appeared to her that the Germans would probably want to hit the Typhoons with multiple squadrons. He agreed that that seemed to be the most logical response. Perhaps having two squadrons together above, below in front and behind the bomber stream so as to be able to react with strength in any direction. Freddy looked thoughtfull at that. If they do that, will they send both at once or one at a time in hope of the first squadron taking out the fighters and the second coming after us? Williams thought about that- and nodded. I hope we are not outthinking ourselves, he joked. Freddy laughed and agreed. Freddy then had a thought: "Up till now we have kept the Typhoons together and hit as a group. They have no reason to think we will change untill we are forced to. If we were to split them up and hit them from say- below and behind and above and behind we would be able to pincer them and maybe break up the formation on the first pass. Then leave you guys to eat them up." He slowly nodded. "Are you going to use the 3rd or wait another day?" Freddy grimaced" I really would like to wait and give them more time, but if a really big raid comes our way I think I have to use them." He soberly agreed. She looked at him" Ok that is that. We put two Spit squadrons with each Typhoon. You direct the Spits and I direct the Typhoons. If I use the 3rd I will stick with them. If not I will stay with you. If I use the third I will hang back with them and bring them in after the first two make their strikes. There will be less chance of any organized intercept by that time." It was agreed. Freddy then decided that the Group Captain should know what they intended to do. Williams agreed. They put away their trays and headed to HQ.

The Group Captain had no objection. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was almost 2000. She told both of them that she was turning in to get a good nights sleep. She then headed for the WAAF barracks. There she found most of them inside and they all looked at her as if she was some kind of prize exhibit. She nodded at them then headed up the stairs. There she found Susan and Tammy waiting for her. They had spent the day relaxing and being lazy – a real break for them. NOW they wanted to talk. Freddy sighed- but it had been a while since she could really let her hair down so that actually felt pretty good. She did not get to bed untill almost midnight. But she got a good sleep without any dreams.

At dawn Freddy was on the flight line with her 3 squadrons and the 2 spit squadrons. After a good meeting that had both Wing Commanders brief everyone on what was going to happen, Freddy decided to take all 3 up for a quick drill. The Wing Commander decided to do the same. He had talked to the two SL'a at Biggin and had given them their directives. He told Freddy that if the Germans came with a big raid it would take longer for it to get here so they probably had time to practice the attacks this morning. So all 5 Squadrons took off and spend untill 0700 working out the kinks in the tactics. Freddy was impressed by how fast the 3rd had caught on and decided to make them operational if a big raid came their way. Upon landing she saw the Group Captain waiting. He was looking a little worried. He got right to the point as both WC's came up to him. "Just got a call 10 minutes ago- Group has plotted a very large raid of over 200 and itmight build to 300- gathering together. They are not sure if we are the target but it is a possibility." Freddy closed her eyes for a minute- then looked at the Group Captain and told him" As soon as we are gassed up I will brief my people and then we will get ready to take off. I want to be up pretty high with lots of choices today." He nodded. The WC looked at him and told him he was going to call Biggin and see if they could get both Spit squadrons here or at least airborne shortly so as to be able to concentrate them and get ready. The GC agreed.

Freddy looked at the gathered pilots. Taking a deep breath, she told them:" OK people, group has spotted a very large raid forming up. NO telling if it is headed our way but I am going on the assumption that it is. We are going to climb into our cockpits and wait. We will not start engines but we will be ready. The 3rd Typhoon squadron is now operational. I will be staying with them since they will be doing this for the first time." She then looked at the two other SL's . You will each be teamed up with two Spit squadrons under the direction of Wing Commander Williams. I will try and keep control but if that is not possible you will attack on his orders. One of you will attack from below and behind and one from above and behind. I would recommend that you fire as a group instead of on individual initiative. I will be taking the third squadron and looking for an oppurtunity to attack once the two of you have made yours. IF this is as big a raid as it sounds, we might have to make multiple attacks to break it up. That means that it will be a lot more risky and confused then it has been. The plan at this time is for the two of you to regroup after the first pass and then concentrate together for the second pass. I am thinking that we might get all three together for the second pass. We shall see.

Freddy sat in the cockpit of her typhoon, trying to think of anything she might have missed. She could not think of anything- but that certainly did not mean that she hadn't. She knew down deep in her bones that this one was going to be a lot different. They had been very lucky and had had it very easy so far- the Germans had screwed up every time they could have made it hard for them. Today it was going to be a real battle- and she knew that she was going to have casualties. Maybe myself too- but somehow she knew that this was not her day to die. Then her radio crackled- it was operations. Telling all of them to get ready. She looked around and saw someone running towards her plane. He jumped up on the wing and she saw that it was the Group Captains assistant. "The Group Captain wants you to know that the raid is a big one 300+ total. They are heading THIS way, not towards Biggin. ETA is 35 minutes. The bombers are at 15000 with fighters all around. It appears that the fighters are being concentrated in 4 groups above below and to the sides. About a mile away from the formation. He says that it does not look like they will be actively trying to come after you but waiting for you to attack." Freddy thanked him and began to start her engine. All around her the Spits and Typhoons rumbled to life. She called the Wing Commander, who answered that he was in contact with the Squadrons from Biggin and they were already in the air and would be waiting for them at the assembly point in front of Kenley. Fredy acknowledged him and began to taxi, leading all planes out.

Freddy stayed on the Typhoons own channel untill she had them sorted out the way she wanted them. She was thinking hard about whether to stick with the plan to hit them from several angles or to concentrate on one. If they concentrated the 4 Spit squadrons should be able to blow a nice hole through the fighters so that the Typhoons would have a pretty free run their first time. BUT then the other german squadrons would swarm after them. On the other hand, if she stuck with the plan, more German fighters would be engaged and fewer able to concentrate after the first pass. But that would leave her and the 3rd squadron without any escort and naked to any germans that wanted to take a shot at them. Or she could do a screaming dive with the third squadron and have all the Germans chasing them while the others could take their shots. She decided.

At 450 mph, Freddy led her 3rd squadron from 25000 ft on a attack at the front of the stream. The other two groups would wait and make their attacks after she had finished. She knew her attack was going to be very obvious but that was her intent. She wanted as much attention as possible on her and the 3rd so as to give as much a free ride as they were likely to get to the other groups.

Wing Commander Guy Williams could just barely see Freddy and the Typhoons as they began their dive. He was coordinating- as per the intial plan- but the big change was her starting it all without escorts as a decoy and diversion. Logically it made sense in that it would ensure that the escorted and more veteran squadrons would have a better chance of scoring big. But it left her and hers all hanging out with nothing going for them but their speed. They were going to stick out like a sore thumb as they made their dive. He knew that was her intention but he did not have to be happy about it. The two attack groups- 2 squadrons of Spits with each Typhoon Squadron- were now maneuvering out of sight to make their attacks from above and behind and below and behind right after Freddy finished hers. It should work- he thought. Just hope we don't lose too much of the 3rd. He really did not think they would make it through the attack unscathed. Circling at 18000 feet well behind the stream, he was in a very good position to see it all unfold. He had no intention of staying out of it completely- once the other two groups made their attack he was going to go in and get some himself. He had been told that there would be no further help arriving- the Germans had really upped the stakes today and had well over 1000 planes were involved in three separate large assaults. 11 Group was going to have all it could handle with the first 2 attacks- they had nothing to spare to help out with this one. And it was not that they could expect any help from 12 Group; they spent way too much time forming up to get here to help out.

Freddy keyed her mike as she saw the German fighters beginning to climb towards them to block them from the bomber formations. "Ok people, we are going to serve these Jerries a main meal of 37MM with a side order of 20's. On my signal fire three rds of 37 and a one second burst of 20's. Aim as best you can but that is not the important part- that is to force them to break and move out of the way. Remember we have a big advantage in that we will be firing long before they are in range. Stay together no matter what and follow me down. I will let you know when to fire the rockets. We will break left after firing and head on down to about 12000 feet where we will turn again to gain altitude" Freddy waited as long as she dared to fire- then gave the word.

She was gratified to see several fighters blow up, and several more break away smoking. But best of all they all broke away. I guess you guys do not really want to face us, she smiled. Then they were through the fighters who had not enough time to turn and fire at them as the Typhoons were going too fast for that. Freddy gave the word and the rockets were flying. And then they were below the bomber stream and heading off. Some of the german fighters shot at them, but the range was too far. Looking over her shoulder she saw that most of them were chasing her. Better and better she thought. About a third of the bomber stream had broken up, and maybe as many as half a dozen blown up and at least that many smoking and dodging. Good enough, she thought. NOW its up to the rest of them to finish the job.

Williams was overjoyed to see all the Typhoons make it through and in the process scatter the top cover of German fighters, shooting several of them down. Cannot really blame them for breaking, that was a lot of firepower hitting them. Now he radiod the other groups to make their attack. As far as he could tell they had yet to be spotted. He hoped their luck would continue to hold out. Looking at the number of fighters that were chasing Freddy and the 3rd, he did not think that there were going to be that many staying home to protect the bomber stream. Did not look like they had anyone coordinating anything- no surprise, but good news. The 1st Typhoon with the two spit squadrons following (since they did not have to penetrate the fighter cover) were hitting from above, while the second was coming from below- both from the rear.

Freddy shook her head- why were the Germans persisting in trying to chase them- they had no hope of catching up. Meanwhile she was leading them well away on a long curve away from the bombers at first then back towards them. Hoping to keep the fighters interested. She looked towards the bomber stream just in time to see the other 2 groups hit. The top bunch first- looking good, they hit the front of the bomber stream and swatted what looked like 8-10 bombers, with several more smoking and dodging. And a lot of bombs beeing jetisoned. The bottom group did not do quite as well- they misjudged the range a little. BUT it did not matter since the rest of the bombers had scattered. Then they were through and the Spits were attacking. The fighters on both sides had moved in too late to catch the Typhoons, and also toolate to prevent the Spits from getting in their first pass unopposed. More bombers fell, broke away, jettisoned bombs. Freddy called out over the radio" all typhoons, form up on me" taking another turn towards the two groups that had come together, if somewhat raggedly, she slowed down to 375, to let them catch up. The german fighters that had been following could not make up much distance on them at that speed. In only a few minutes she had all 3 squadrons together. She took them in a steady climb heading towards the field. There were still maybe 60 or so bombers trying to head that way. The rest were gone or fleeing. And they were pretty much unescorted now. The big fight was still with the spits and the german fighters mixing it up. Freddy smiled. This looked pretty good. They would hit the bombers from the side and at the same altitude. Signalling her squadrons, she spread them out so as to have them in a long line firing at the bombers from the front of them all the way to the rear. Then she let them choose their own times to fire, emphasizing that they were to use the 37's first then the 20's. And then they were on them and firing.

Freddy could not believe it- she had been so sure that she would lose someone, or several someones today- but she had not lost ANYONE. Only 4 typhoons, three of them in the 3rd, had even taken any damage, and that was only minor. That last pass had finished the attack on Kenley, and had shot down another dozen or so bombers, with an equal number smoking and damaged. They then had kept on at max speed to dive down to 3000 feet and head for the field. There were no fighters willing to chase them at that point. She landed the squadrons and then waited on the flight line to see how the Spits had done. She watched them come in, a couple of them clearly damaged and smoking. Of the 36 spits that had engaged, 33 of them landed at Kenley. Saddened by the losses, but relieved that they were not worse, she was happy to see that Williams appeared undamaged. She walked to his plane after he landed. He jumped down and gave her a big smile.

Wing Commander Guy Williams was very relieved to land. While he believed that less then 10 Spits had been lost, and several chutes had been seen, he was worried about the Typhoons even though he was pretty sure they were ok, at least mostly. As he landed he saw Freddy heading towards his plane, and he could not believe how relieved he felt. As he jumped down he looked at the Typhoons. Incredibly, it appeared that not only had they had no losses, but also very little damage that he could see, a few bullet holes and nothing else. Then Freddy was in front of him, grinning hugely.

He snapped to attention and saluted-which she just as snappily returned. Then they were shaking heads and both grinning like maniacs. Then the Group Captain was there to take them to debriefing personally, with 2 trucks there to take the rest of the pilots.

A total of 7 Spits had been shot down, but of them 4 pilots had jumped safely. One was wounded, but would recover. 2 were killed. 6 more planes had some damage, but all were repairable.

The total german losses were still being figured. But the preliminary results were: 48 bombers and 11 fighters confirmed down; with another 22 bombers and 8 fighters damaged, some of them going down elsewhere or in the Channel. The total was very nearly one third of the entire attack. With at least a 7 to 1 kill ratio, added to the fact that the attack had been totally frustrated, made this the biggest victory of the battle so far. When the fact that this attack had come with the Germans expecting the Typhoons and supposedly having prepared for it, and failing so miserably, was added in, made this raid a total failure.

Freddy sat in the Goup Captains office with Williams and the GC. All were feeling very relieved and very satisfied with the results. The other days attacks had faired better, but not spectaculary so. Several other airfields had been hit hard, but none knocked out. And the german losses, while nowhere near as bad as here and with more Allied losses as well, had been high. Overall, somewhere in the area of 20 of the whole attack force had been destroyed or damaged- a rate far above any air forces ability to withstand. The Germans would be having some serious discussions tonight for sure. Freddy looked at the clock- it was only just after noon. Plenty of time for the Germans to make not one but more then one more attack before dark, but after this mornings debacle she doubted they would make another serious attack today. The GC's phone rang, he answered it, and said yes sir she is right here. He then handed it to Freddy. It was Parks. " Congratulations, Wing Commander, on a battle very well fought and won. The germans have got to be back on their heels now. These kinds of losses will make them reconsider a lot. Air chief Marshal Dowding is waiting to talk to you." Freddy stood up straighter and received the Chief of Fighter Commands congratulations as well. Then he said" One moment for the PM". Freddy stood up ever straighter; mirrored by the WC and the GC as they heard her say" Thank you very much, Prime Minister. We had some luck today as well. They did not react in time and really appeared to have no fall back contingency plans if theirs did not work. They did not have someone like Wing Commander Williams coordinating things. He deserves a lot of the credit" Williams starting blushing, the GC chuckling. Then Freddy grinned evily at Williams and said "Yes sir he is right here and I will put him on" She then handed the phone to a stunned wing commander. He glared at her, swallowed hard, and took the phone while standing at attention. Freddy sat down and smirked hugely. "Thank you very much, Prime Minister. We did have some luck but more of it was due to the pilots and above all to Wing Commander De Lancel- she changed the plan at the last minute with great results. Yes Sir. Yes Sir. Thank you sir." He then handed the phone back to Freddy who glared at him but took it. "Wing Commander Williams had the tougher job today in that he had to maneuver 6 squadrons in 2 separate attacks. Yes Sir. Thank You sir. I will let him know. Goodbye" She then listened for a minute, and grimmaced. "Understood, Air Chief Marshal Dowding. If no more attacks come in today I will be down this evening. Goodbye, sir". Freddy handed the phone back to the GC and sat down with a plomp.

Looking at Freddy's woebegone face, Williams asked" Whats wrong, Freddy?" She looked at him and made a face. " If the weather is bad for tomorrow as expected, I am supposed to meet the press and be put on display and have interviews tomorrow. I will be staying at some fancy hotel in downtown London for tonight as long as the weather forecast is the same at 1800. I am REALLY not looking forward to that." Both Williams and the GC grinned at her. She glared at them"Oh you two can laugh, you are not going to be put on display like a prize cow at the county fair." Dress uniform complete with sword and all my medals, with the VC on the neck ribbon. Freddy was dreading the whole thing.

For the rest of the day Freddy decided to have the squadrons practice firing their weapons, especially the 2nd, who had been a little off. Also she drilled them in formation and section flying, also pairing up different wingmen from different squadrons and making them work together. By 1700, they were wrung out, but Freddy was encouraged by their progress. She then went to the WAAF barracks to pack and get ready. There she found that Susan and Tammy were going to leave with her and stay with her as kind of chaperones. She shook her head- apparently Parks idea. But she was happy for the company. The Group Captain was going to send his car to take them to London. Promptly at 1800, after desperatly checking with operations in hope that the weather forecast had changed, Freddy and the others were on their way to London.

Freddy was very impressed by the Hotel. The Clairton was considered one of the top 2-3 Hotels in London, and was VERY fancy. As she came into the front lobby, she found a PR officer from Fighter Command waiting for her. "Wing Commander De Lancel, after you get settled we will take you over to the Ministry of War for you to get briefed on what will happen tomorrow. After that you will be brought back here to eat and turn in." Freddy nodded at him and headed up to her room. Susan and Tammy were equally impressed by the suite, and told her to take her time they intended to have long baths. She glared at them- and they laughed at her expression. Throwing up her hands, she headed down for the car.

The Ministry of War was a pretty impressive building itself, she thought. The PR officer escorted her in. Freddy notice that she was getting a fair number of startled looks. As far as she knew, none of the papers had yet put out any real details about her, including no pictures as far as she could tell, so they could not recognize her. However, if rumors moved the way they normally did, it was probably all over the Ministry. Of course, a Woman wearing regular RAF uniform complete with ribbons, especially THAT ribbon, would pretty much stop traffic anyway. Up the stairs she went, right up to the top floor. She wondered about that. She knew there were secure bombproof offices and HQ's under the building, she guessed that they were confident enough at the moment that London would not be a target so that they could use the regular offices. As she was shown into the Minister Of War's main office, she braced herself.

The Minister was a fairly non-descript individual, appearing to be the politician he was. He gushed over her for a couple of minutes, Freddy having a hard time not rolling her eyes, before he handed her off to a senior assistant and PR head for the effort to prepare her for the next mornings fun and games. She was then escorted down the stairs to the second floor, once again the target of many eyes and astonished looks along the way. There in another much less plush office, she was given the drill. At 0900 tomorrow, here at the ministry, she would be introduced to the press. In full dress uniform, and complete with her new medal (Freddy looked at him and silently asked the question –WHAT NEW MEDAL?)

He appeared flustered- and then handed her the press release. She quickly read it and realized that the new medal was the DSC. She glared at the PR- "Exactly when is this going to happen?" He stuttered for a moment and then said – at 0800 here at the Ministry; the Minister Himself will award it to you. Freddy rolled her eyes at that, but found herself with no choice but to go along.

The next part would be even more fun. She would pose for some pictures then the Press would get to ask questions. That was all due to end by 1100. At that point she would be taken to Buckingham Palace for a Royal Presentation at 1200. Freddy's eyes BUGGED out at that. What was that all about, she asked again with her eyes. The PR said"The King wished to publicly acknowledge your contributions to the War effort by this official and formal greeting, whereupon which she would also join him for a Formal Dinner that evening at Buckingham Palace. Her father had been informed and would be there as well for the dinner. Freddy brightened up at that, she really wanted more time to visit with him. The other night had been great, but so much more needed to be said and talked about. She was then told after the formal presentation a quick lunch with the PM and Air Chief Marshal Dowding and Air Vice Marshal Parks would follow at 1400. she would then be escorted back to her hotel to freshen up for the Formal Dinner that evening at 1900. since she had only the single formal uniform, that would give the Hotel staff time to press and clean it before that evening. Freddy was then taken back to the Hotel.

Freddy was glad to be able to relax and be herself with Tammy and Susan. The dinner at the Clairton had been fairly impressive; all those fancy waiters, etc. The food had been pretty good, but not great. But then English food was never that good anyway, she grinned. She then had turned in and slept pretty well untill 0600. Putting on the Dress Uniform had been not too bad, despite the harrassment from her two friends, who poked and prodded and generally enjoyed themselves at her expense. At 0700 she got into the Ministry car and headed over. The presentation went ok, but she contrasted the award of her VC to this and found it very wanting. The GOOD news was that her father had been there. Therer was not any time to talk to him alone but he was there and acting VERY proud of her. They did have a few minutes alone before the Press meeting began. He and Freddy were being kept in an office down the hall from the briefing room where it would all happen. Paul De Lancel knew Freddy was very nervous about the press conference- afraid of saying something wrong. He decided that she needed him to be her friend right now rather then her father. So he preceeded to see if he could get her to laugh and loosen up.

Freddy giggled at one of Daddy's stories about the confusion and craziness that was going on right now with the Free French movment. She was glad to see that he seemed well and cheerfull. She knew he missed her mother a lot, but that he had to go on and try and get things done no matter how he felt. Paul De Lancel was glad to see the twinkle in his daughters eyes, and that she had relaxed. Good, he thought, that is exactly what I wanted. Then the door opened and the PR man came in- "Colonel De Lancel, will you please escort Wing Commander De Lancel to the briefing room". HERE WE GO, thought Freddy.

Now I know what its like at feeding time at the zoo when the lions and tigers are hungry, Freddy dazedly thought. The initial part had not been too bad. The pictures were also not too bad- since they were only given about 10 minutes, much to their unhappiness. At least she did not have to pose, she thought.

The questions though- some of them were so DUMB. Only a couple of them were smart- and since they were about what was actually going on during the battles fairly easy to answer, though she was carefull not to give any details about tactics or anything like that- just her feelings and worries. The rest of the questions were pretty sad. They were astonished at how long she had been flying, and that stunt flying for movies was almost as dangerous as combat, the only differnce being no one was actually shooting at her. Her father had been introduced as well, and she noticed that the PR guy and some of the Ministry types looked a little worried at that. But Paul De Lancel was not one to get rushed or flustered by reporters. He calmly answered their questions- Yes he was VERY proud of her; no, he was not surprised at how good she was since she had been flying since she was 12. THAT really astonished the press, and they clamored for details, which he gave, making Freddy blush. Promptly at 1100 the conference was concluded, with the press complaining and grumbling but accepting. Freddy sat down and gave a big sigh of relief. But that was only a brief respite- she was whisked away with her Father to Buckingham Palace.

Freddy was a little surprised that Buckingham Palace was actually a lot more plush then the Clairton- she found it hard to believe that that could be possible. The formal presentation was a little nerve wracking- but she had accomplished it without any real mistakes. The King, and Queen, were very nice and down to earth even during the presentation. That made her feel a lot better and MUCH less nervous. That actually lasted only 30 minutes. Then she left her father who was going to a meeting with other Free French officials with some government officials while she went to the luncheon at government house with the PM. That was much less formal then the Royal Presentation, and at least it was with people she had already met. Dowding and Parks got right down to details and the PM was very much involved as well. The Air staff had been studying yesterdays battle for hints at what the Germans would try next. The consensus seemed to be that unless fat Herman over ruled them and forced the fighters to stay near the formation, that the only thing the Germans could do was send out squadrons to seek out and engage the Typhoons long before they got close to the bombers. In that case, strong escort for the Typhoons was the only answer. A minimum two, and preferably more squadrons for each Typhoon squadron. The number of bombers that the Typhoons, with their immense firepower, could knock down quickly was something that had to be taken advantage of to the highest degree. The problem was that a shortage of pilots prevented them from forming more Typhoon Squadrons for at least a little while. Shortage of pilots was the BIG problem now- they had plenty of planes. The PM then put his oar in. "Have you given some though to Converting some Hurricane squadrons to Typhoon squadrons?" Dowding frowned, and said. "I know that the Hurricane really is at a disadvantage as regards competing with the 109s. But I really hesitate to weaken our fighter strength." The PM then said "But the return on the investment should be much greater. Its all about the destruction of bombers, which Typhoons do so much better." Parks then interjected"what if we were to take some squadrons from up north or out west- they are not being pushed much at all- and that way 11 Group would maintain its strength." Dowding thought about that, hesitated for a minute, then "That has merit. There is no doubting what Typhoons can do in good hands" nodding towards a blushing Freddy "and the whole thrust of the battle is to knock down German bombers."

The PM then smiled. "Excellent. I have been informed that the factory has 2 more squadrons worth of Typhoons ready to be picked up. They should be able to produce 2 squadrons a week for the forseeable future. As long as our Wing Commander here" nodding himself at an even more Blushing Freddy" keeps up the good work with such a high score with so little loss, the battle could be wrapped up in a week or two at most. Its not like the good weather will last too long anyway. The boffins believe that if Herr Hitler does not give the order in the next 3 weeks, it will not happen at all. They are also seriously split on just how serious the germans are about the whole invasion. But we cannot afford to take any chances- we must prepare for the worst. AND- the Typhoons would also be of a great help should the invasion actually begin- their firepower would be absolutely deadly against the barges the germans will have to use. And their manueverability and speed give them a much better chance against massed AA fire then the larger, slower, less maneuverable Blenheims. The Naval staff have in fact been clamoring for the Typhoons to be used against the massed barges in port in France. Only your great success at shooting down bombers have argued against it. "

Dowding agreed"IT is much more of the moment to use them against the bombers now then the barges later- under fighting conditions MUCH less favorable then they enjoy here and now."

Parks also agreed"If we stop the Germans here and now, there will be no invasion. The maximum effort must be concentrated right here. Losses could be severe if we attack their ports- as we have already seen with the Mosquito raids, which have been relatively unsuccessful, and the Blenheim raids, which have not done much more." The PM puffed on his cigar for a moment as he thought about it- and then came to a decision. "Yes- the Typhoons will not be used against barges unless the invasion actually begins. Untill then they will be used in the role that the Wing Commander here has shown to be so successful- shooting down bombers."

He then turned to Freddy. " How soon could you have two more squadrons ready, Freddy?" Freddy took a deep breath- so much responsibility and such hard decisions- and said" If you get me pilots tomorrow I can have them operational in 2-3 days- BUT only if I am not up to my eyeballs in combat. I still need to be there for my squadrons. They are still green and we have been very lucky not to have any losses from either combat or just training." The PM looked at Dowding. "what is the weather look like?" Dowding then looked at Parks and said" Air Vice Marshal, put in a call and get the latest forecast" Parks nodded, got up and headed for the door.

Freddy sat back for a minute, as Parks left, and contemplated 2 more squadrons. If the pilots she got were relatively experienced, she knew it would not take long to get them ready. But 5 squadrons made an awkward Wing; and they needed to be spread out to defend more airfields. She looked up at the PM and Dowding and saw that they were looking at her. "What?" she asked"Did I miss something?" the PM smiled and said"No, Freddy, we could see that you were deep in thought and figured it was about the new squadrons. What were you thinking?" Freddy sighed. " 5 squadrons make an awkward Wing; and more will be coming. Not to mention we have to spread them out to protect more airfields." Dowding soberly nodded at this."I can train them, but they need leadership to work well with the Spits in their escort status. Frankly, we need more leaders like Wing Commander Williams to coordinate the air battles. THAT was our big edge yesterday- the germans have so far done nothing like that". She perked up. "That reminds me sir. The Wing Commander deserves some recognition for yesterday as well. His role was vital and he made it all work superbly." She looked at Dowding then the PM.

They were smiling. And nodding their head. The PM looked at Dowding and said"DFC?" Dowding nodded. The PM looked at Freddy and said "Done". Freddy beamed.

"How do you want to use them, Freddy? "asked the PM. Freddy:" I think that 2 Squadrons defending each airfield, or each pair of airfields if they are close enough, like Biggin and Kenley are, with say 4 squadrons of fighters to escort them, would seem to me the best mix. We pretty much have the doctrine down; it all comes down to being able to shoot and time the arrival of the rockets in the bomber formations- they by far do the most damage. Then comes the 37- with its range you can pot shoot the bombers and they cannot do a thing about it. The 20's are for somewhat closer work, but they can chew up a bomber in one burst. As long as the fighters can get them in close enough, and they maintain formation, the concentrated fire is deadly. Splitting up in sections seem to me to not be anywhere near as effective, plus it dilutes the ability of the fighters to escort us in if we are spread out. As long as the germans do not twig that they need someone coordinating their battles on the scene, we will have the edge" At that point Parks came back into the room."The weather forecast is for that front to keep things quiet up through tomorrow, but after that it looks clear for at least several days, and maybe a week. " The PM looked at Dowding and nodded. Dowding said to Parks" we will convert 2 squadrons of Hurricanse immediately to Typhoons, with more to follow as soon as they are produced. We will take one from the west 10 Group and one from the North and 13 Group.

After that we will take one from 12 Group. And then one from 11 Group. That spreads it out. And one way or another by the time we get them all up and running this battle will probably be decided- one way or the other" he said grimly. He turned to Freddy" Wing Commander De Lancel, you will put all your efforts tomorrow into starting up the new squadrons. You will be notified as soon as possibile of which squadrons will be converted. After that, we will coordinate which airfields should have priority of protection. "

After the luncheon Freddy was taken back to the hotel, where she took off her dress uniform and gave it to the hotel staff to clean and press, then took a long hot bath. While she soaked, she talked to Tammy and Susan, who had each had long hot baths as well earlier in the day. That was almost as relaxing as the bath. They told here that they were going back to work the next morning. Freddy was sad at that, but bowed to the inevitable.

They questioned her closely about the Presentation, and the rest. Freddy gave a lot of details about that, but none about the luncheon. They understood the security thing, for which Freddy was very gratefull. Knowing it would not take that much time to get dressed, Freddy lazed around untill 1800. Then she once again put on the monkey suit ( she had to explain that slang term to the girls, who thought it not only hilarious, but accurate) and got ready. Her father in the car assigned to them arrived at 1830. She introduced the girls to her father, and had to smile at their appreciation of how handsome he was. Reminding them that there was a no poaching sign up, and that he was VERY happily married, she did her best to fluster them, which really did not succeed too well. Then they headed out.

Freddy had never seen so many fancy uniforms in her life- and that, considering the background of her mother and sister, and her experience with the military and the movies, was saying something.

Luckily it was set up as a greeting line, and once through that they were assigned their seats, which interestingly were not very far from the King and Queen, which was supposedly a sign of how respected you were. Thankfully, she was seated across from Dowding and Parks, so no uncomfortable getting to know one another conversations were needed. Parks took the lead by questioning her father about her childhood, which her father took as a hint to repeat as many embarrasing anecdotes as possible. It was actually a fairly enjoyable dinner. Afterwards as they were leaving, Parks handed her a sealed envelope. He whispered to her that inside were the details on the pilots of the two Hurricane Squadrons that were to be converted. She thanked him and tucked it under her arm. That would make good reading for this evening.

He also mentioned that he and Dowding were looking for experienced but flexible squadron leaders or wing commanders to be put forth for the new position of Interception controllers, which would be the officers charged with coordinating the battles. Freddy nodded and whispered back that Wing Commander Williams would be able to show them the ropes. He agreed and said that they hoped to have them in the next day or so.

Once back at the hotel, Freddy sat and talked with her father untill 2200, when she reluctantly said that since she was heading back that next morning early, sack time was suggested. He smiled at her, once again telling her how proud he was, and left. Freddy then got out the envelope and studdied the names and brief histories of the pilots and officers of the two squadrons. They had a fair amount of experience- not as varied as the Coastal Command pilots, but they had a good bit. Did not look like there were any problems here- knock on wood. She decided that first thing in the morning she would have them sent to the factory, where she would meet them and start their training. She would check in with her other squadrons at Kenley, but since the weather was not good, they would be gounded anyway. A day of rest would be agood idea for them, 2 days even better. Unless it was really bad, she should be able to get them up in the air at the factory for at least some orientation time.

Back at Kenley the next morning, Freddy actually felt comfortable. Outside of the hazing she got from some of the pilots about the pitcures in the morning newspapers (actually not bad pictures) and the glowing rightups(which made Freddy gag), she felt pretty good about things. The weather was not too bad, mostly unflyable unless you stayed close to the airfield. It was better then yesterday, so the trend was clear. She ordered the squadrons to fly in sections, and to maneuver and get more experience with the plane. She then borrowed the Group Captains car again and headed out to the factory. Arrving there at 0900, she found that one squadron would be there soon, the other in an hour or so. She checked out the Typhoons waiting there- and found that since she was their commander she had to sign acceptance for them. No big deal. She talked to the head of the factory, and posed for a couple of pictures, the workers were very proud of the performance so far of the new plane. He told her that as long as the engines kept arriving (that was the real bottleneck) he could keep producing 5-7 per day. 2 squadrons a week- that made Freddy realize that she would have the four new squadrons in the next 10 days. She thought about that- it would probably be harder to scare up the Spit squadrons and above all else finding the Interceptor controllers to do the hard part. Then the first squadron arrived. She lined them up and gave them the word- they would be flying something that was a whole lot heavier faster and bigger then a Hurricans. It would also be a whole lot more powerfull as regards armament. She then led them out to the flight line of the factory airfield. After a quick and dirty familiarization on the cockpits and the controls, she had them fire them up and follow her up. She grabbed one of the other Typhoons and led them in a slow carefull orientation flight. Luckily they were not armed (she had made a point of telling the factory people to leave one squadron unarmed for just this purpose). She spent an hour slowly going over the paces, letting them get familiar with a very different plane. Then the field called and told her that the second squadron was there. She told the Squadron Leader to keep them at it, practicing maneuvers but to keep it slow and easy. The second squadron was pretty much the same as the first; she gave them the same speech and used her bird to get them used to the cockpit and controls. Then she called the other squadron down. After having let the field ground crew know to fuel the first batch up, she talked to the first squadron. Answering questions and asking her own. Their responses were good enough for her to decide to have them fly the fully loaded versions. She took one herself to show them the ropes. She did not yet have them fire their weapons- she thought that could wait a bit. After an hour she brought them down- then took the others up in their first flight in a Typhoon. This went on for the whole day- the weather had improved to the point that it was no longer a concern. At 1700 hrs, she felt confident enough to take up both squadrons fully armed and take them through some tougher maneuvers and drills. At 1900 she then let them fire the weapons at the range.

She then had them land and get refueled. At 2000 she had someone at the factory take the GC's car back to Kenley and she led both squadrons- fueled but not armed to Biggin – Kenley did not have the room for 2 more squadrons. They landed just as the sun was setting. She had brought her flight bag and decided to spend the night and catch a ride back to Kenley in the morning.

She debriefed and grilled them untill 2200 hrs upon which she told them to turn in. Grabbing a spare room in the WAAF barracks Freddy crashed.

Morning found Freddy up at 0530 for a quick shower and over to the mess hall for breakfast. While there the BC told her that a car and driver was detailed to transport her

for the duration of the battle. Freddy looked thoughfull and said"That will save some time and hassle. Won't have to keep cadging rides here and there when I can't fly my Typhoon. " The BC handed her a folder; she looked at it and then at him, a question in her eyes. "Paperwork. Something you will have to get used to. Reports, evaluations, etc"

She looked at it, groaned, but shrugged her shoulders. Then she got in the car and told the driver to head to Kenley. She opened the folder and read what there was; then started to make notes in response. She was only half way done when they arrived. Hopping out at HQ, she asked the driver to drop off her bag at the WAAF barracks. Then she went in in search of the Wing Commander. She found him in the Operations Room looking at the big map. Already there were formations gathering over France. BIG formations. She shook her head; "Looks like they are going to try and make a point today that what happened last time is not going to stop them." The WC soberly nodded his head"I guess we should not be too surprised; Germans are known to be pretty stubborn. But somehow I don't think they are going to try another crack at us or Biggin. Not unless they have come up with a way to counter our new tactics and weapons. And the boffins have pretty much agreed that outside of sending out hunter squadrons, they cannot think of anything else they could try." She shook her head " they could try and put a coordinator with each raid and try that. But that is the only thing I could come up with. If they used the hunter tactic, they would take the chance that the hunters would not find us and we would have an easy attack. They would need to send a lot more fighters out to escort the bombers. That would work against their tactic of only sending half their people out each day, giving all of them one day off and one day on." He agreed." I really do not see them doing that- they could not keep that up for more then a few days. They have such a much longer flight then we do; that would wear their crews down very fast. NOT to mention their maintenace issues would more then double. No, if they come after us then they would probably try the same tactics only hope for better results. Or they use a coordinator. If they think of it". He pulled out a piece of paper that had some notes scribbled on it. "The Air Staff want these air fields given priority for protection. Manston, Northolt, Tangmere. " Freddy grimaced. "Manston and Tangmere are so far away from us that we would have to redeploy. Northolt is an easy one since its nearby.Another problem is that with Manston and Tangmere so close to the coast we would have very little time to get to altitude compared to here. Our warning time is so much less. I think that today lets try and cover Northolt; tomorrow if we can think of how to do it we will try to cover Manston and Tangmere." He looked at her and smiled"that is what the air staff thought you would say and they already agreed that we would not have enough time today to protect any station except one nearby. So Northolt it is"

45 minutes later Freddy was airborne with 3 squadrons of Typhoons and 4 squadrons of Spits, the two from Biggin arriving to form up with them. She had ordered the 2 newest Typhoon squadrons to stay out of it today and get more used to their aircraft, and get more practice firing their weapons. She really wanted to be there to watch them and help them train but knew that she could not be in two places at once. Besides, she could not be there all the time and she was going to have to learn how to step back. The last word she had gotten from operations was that like two days ago, there were 3 large attacks coming. One to the east, one to the west, and one right up the center. The center one appeared to be going west of the route that would take them to either Biggin or Kenley; so that seemed to indicate the target was Northolt. Well, she thought, they are in for a surprise. At least I hope they are. I hope they are not thinking that we will be there to intercept them. Williams was flying nearby, leading the Spits. It had been decided to take it to the Germans this time- to intercept them well away from the airfield. They would have already come under some attack from other formations, so they might not recognize what was happening untill too late. In a few minutes he would accelerate and climb to get above the formations coming their way in order to get a good look to see if there were any changes afoot, and make the call on where to make the attack. He would get the word to Freddy who would choose the avenue. And he would call out the escort orders on how to get them there.

Williams pushed the throttle forward, looking to get a peak at the bomber and fighter formation as soon as possible. They were about 20 minutes from Northolt, hoping to catch the Germans by surprise, since up till now they had let them get a lot closer before attacking. He knew this was a big raid- but what changes, if any, were they trying to compensate for their previous losses. As he got closer, it appeared that they were acting on the theory that bigger is better. He estimated that this raid was maybe 400+; perhaps the biggest single one they had yet sent out. Looked like 200+ bombers and about the same number of fighters; THAT was a change- before the bombers were in the majority. The fighters looked to be still grouped by squadron, though. It did not appear that they were operating in any larger formations or under any central control that he could see. Of course that may be deceiving; they might have one and he was just not being obvious. The fighters were clearly in 2 separate duties; about half very close to the bomber formation and the rest maybe a mile or so away. BUT the bad news was that they were covering in all areas; above and below, both sides, and front and rear. The Typhoons were going to have to penetrate a fighter screen even if the Spits handled the outer screen. Williams keyed the mike- he and Freddy had set up a separate frequency that they would use now; then they would change to a common frequency that all 7 squadrons would be on. There was some worry about too much chatter but the arguments about ensuring that all could talk together over rode them.

Freddy was waiting for Williams to contact her- this was the most nerve wracking part as far as she was concerned. Her natural inclination to go in guns blazing warred against the caution that told her she had a lot of people counting on her to use her best judgement. "Freddy, can you read me" AT LAST. "Loud and clear" " This is a big raid- probably 200+ fighters and an equal number of bombers. They have close escort on all sides and below and above and front and rear; they also have the same placement with an outer screen. The Good news is that they still seem to be operating as separate squadrons and I see no sign of any coordinator. The outer screen is about a mile away from the main formation. We are going to have to deal with them first; the inner screen is the real problem. Over" Freddy thought furiously. Concentration or try and use multiple attacks. Instinctively she thought- concentration. OK. That settles that. Now how to do that….. OK – two shots by the Spits. First 2 squadrons attack the outer screen; the other two bore in to confront the inner screen; we follow right behind and attack the bombers. Now from which way do we hit…. Biggest advantage is diving speed. Bombers are most vulnerable from below. Its also easier to judge the distance for the rockets. And you have a bigger target. They are at 15000 ft; we are at 20000. Dive down swoop up and use that extra speed to make the quick approach. Problem with that is we would be seen. Have to dive now and then climb. Go down to about 10000 and climb to 11000 to fire. That would be pretty quick. OK

Freddy keyed her mike and let Williams know her decision.

Williams listened to Freddy. He pretty much agreed with her approach; made sense and was probably about the best they could do. He had not really wanted to disperse either. Acknowledging her decision, he changed frequency to the main group. "OK people, here it is. We are going to dive to 10000 at full throttle for the Spits and about 80 for the Typhoons- then the Spits are going to hit the escorts in two groups- first the outer escorts then the inner with the Typhoons following right behind to hit the bombers. We will be climbing to attack the belly of the formation. Ready to dive on my mark-…..ready…….DIVE now" And down they went.

Freddy listened to Williams give the order and led her Typhoons after the Spits. Once they reached 10000 Freddy let her people in on it."OK, here is how it is going to go. We will climb at full throttle- the Spits will pull ahead of us but that is what we want to happen. We will stay together for the first pass; after that we shall see. Once we fire our missiles we will continue to climb and then fire the 37's after the missiles hit. THEN we will roll and dive down to 5000. Heading at 185 with throttles still wide open. We will pick up distance then climb. The next attack will be from above. Hopefully the germans will be chasing us down and leave the attic empty. Good luck people. Now change your radio to our frequency "

Freddy watched the Spits go after the escorts. She was glad to see that Williams was maintaining control, splitting off 2 of the squadrons to either side to handle the other fighters that were starting to swarm. Looked like they would have a pretty clear path. Keying her mike, she got the Typoons attention. "Get ready everyone- looks like we will have a clear run. Commence the climb, NOW. Full throttle- all the way. " Freddy watched the bomber stream get closer. So far the Spits had occupied all the fighters. She could see the top and rear squadrons starting to head her way but they were not going to get there very soon. It was about time. "1st squadron, fade out to the left a little more. 3rd Squadron, fade to the right some. 2nd Squadron, maintain heading. Get ready to fire. Ready…..take good aim………FIRE!"

294 rockets shot out. Freddy watched the bomber stream react. Several bombers started to dodge and weave- then 2 collided with some others- before the rockets even hit there were 4 bombers down! Freddy put a predatory grin on her face. Then the rockets hit/started to explode. She had waited an extra bit owing to the depth of the stream. She was able to count maybe a dozen direct hits before she lost count. The stream was breaking up- but they needed some more. Then she noticed the bombs starting to fall and realized that they needed to fire and get out of there.She keyed her mike again" Maintain heading people and prepare to give them 3 rd of 37's. Take good aim. Ready…. FIRE!" She let go with 3 quick rds, glad to see one direct hit and a bomber explode. "BREAK and dive NOW. COME to heading 185 and follow me!" Freddy led them out of there, barrely missing some of the falling bombs. The fighters too were starting to close. Well, they were going to be too late- as fast as we can dive they have no chance to catch us.

Williams had just exrticated himself from the melee and looked around for the Typhoons. He caught a glimpse of them diving and heading away. And no fighters looked close enough to do any damage. The bomber formation was no more. Smoking, diving, dodging, it was a total mess. He decided to pull everyone out and regroup. "OK everyone drop what you are doing and head out at heading 220 and go to 5000 feet, full throttle. I want to regroup over Northolt to see if we need to do anymore" Suiting his words to his actions, Williams dived and headed out.

Freddy looked around. The Formation was very ragged, but still everyone was there. No damage and no losses so far. Quickly sorting things out and tightening up, she then switched frequencies so as to talk to Williams. When she could not get him on their private channel, she tried the Spits normal channel and got him. He then switched to their frequency. She listened as he reported in. So far about 6-9 losses, not sure, between those down and those damaged and heading back to base. Not bad, thought Freddy. He let her know where they were regrouping, so Freddy told him she would be back in a minute once she got the group heading the right way. She redirected the group, then switched back. She had decided to make a head on attack if there were still bombers heading towards Northolt. Fighters would take a pass and then the Typhoons would follow. One pass from each should be enough to stop any further advance. She let Williams know and he agreed.

There were still about 60 bombers heading for Northolt. Freeddy was surprised there were that many after the damage they had done, but perhaps these guys were more determined then most. No matter- the next attack was about to begin. It looked like it could be very interesting. There were still a number of fighters with the bombers, though fairly close and not roaming. Williams commenced his attack, all 4 squadrons acting together. Freddy grabbed her mike"Get ready people, the Spits are going in now and we will follow. One pass at max speed – give them both your 37 and your 20's; massed fire head on. That should finish things. We will then break right at my word and head for Kenley at top speed.

It turned out that the Typhoons did not have to do much. The Spits assault pretty much finished things- the German fighters were not able to do much to stop them, being too close to the bombers. There were only a dozen or so, maybe 20, left heading towards Northolt. These guys have some real iron in the spine- must be fanatics or something- she thought. Too bad- they are going to pay the price. She gave the word and a holocaust of fire decended on them. Virtually all of them were either blown out of the sky or at least damaged by the burst. Freddy pulled the Typhoons out faster then she thought she would need to and took them home.

Landing at Kenley, Freddy felt totally drained. This had been a long mission and had really taken it out of her. On the other hand, once again no losses for the Typhoons. Freddy felt a little guilty about the Spit losses, but realized that those losses were inevitable and at least were low. As she climbed out of her plane, she saw the GC waiting for her. He had a broad smile on his face. Freddy returned it with a somewhat smaller one as she looked at her watch and was surprised to see that it was only 1030. The whole flight and battle had only taken a little over an hour. It just felt a lot longer. The GC returned her salute and offered his congratulations. "Just got word a few minutes ago. Observer Corps is estimating over 100 total enemy losses. Perhaps as much as 25 of the whole raid. This has got to rock Jerry back on his heels, if not down to his knees. The other raids did better, but preliminary estimates put his total losses so far at well over 150, maybe close to 200. " Freddy was astonished at those numbers- if they were even close, the Germans had to be really worried now.

After the debriefing, Freddy, Williams and the GC met in his office. He pointed out the two new desks in the outer office and told Freddy and Williams that those were theirs and they needed to start on their paperwork. Both groaned loudly, which only made his smile bigger. They sat down at the table in the middle of the office and looked at their notes from the debriefing. The GC asked for them to be brief on their accounts. Freddy nodded at Williams for him to go first. "Sir, from what I was able to get from Biggin, they lost 5 fighters, with 3 pilots saved. 3 other fighters damaged but repairable. Our squadrons here did a little better in that they lost 4 planes, with 3 pilots saved. 2 others damaged but repairable. Therefore a total of 9 planes and 3 pilots lost. We are credited with 12 fighters destroyed and 8 damaged; and 10 bombers with 6 damaged. " Freddy then looked at her notes. " we were very lucky and have no losses and no real damage, a few bullet holes in 2 planes but easily repairable. No fighters got close enough for us to engage. We are credited with 61 bombers destroyed and another 18 damaged. And of course the main thing was the raid was broken up and no damage done to Northolt." The GC sat back and shook his head. " Considering how badly damaged many of those bombers were, and some of the fighters, it seems clear that the estimate of 100 downed is probably going to be true. 25 of the attack and close to 50 of the bombers. The Germans cannot take those kind of losses for even a few days. Unless they come up with something to counter us, this battle will be over within the week. With two more squadrons ready to come on line, we can spread out and protect more airfields, cause more German losses, and really put an end to the attack." Freddy and Williams looked at each other and shrugged. They thought the GC was being a little opitmistic- they did not think the Germans would throw in the towel that quickly. At the least, they would try some kind of new tactics or something before admitting defeat. The GC's phone rang, and he answered it. He nodded, said yes sir, then said that he had just gotten the word on the estimates himself. He smiled and said"Yes sir, it went quite well. Our losses among the fighters was low, especially only losing 3 pilots. The Typhoons came through virtually unscathed. Yes sir. The Germans have to be in shock about now. Yes Sir. Here she is sir. " He handed it to Freddy and mouthed Dowding. She nodded and took the phone. "Yes Sir. Thank you sir. Yes Sir. Wing Commander Williams deserves a lot of the credit for his direction of the fighters sir, they never really got close to us. Yes Sir. Here he is sir" she smiled cheekily at Williams as she handed him the phone, despite his glare. ":Yes sir, thank you sir. Things worked out well. The Germans had no controller or coordinator and that pretty much was the difference. We did lose some people, but less then I feared. Yes sir. Thank you sir, Iam honored. Yes sir. Here he is sir" then handed it to the GC. He said yes sir, understood sir, I will see to it. Goodbye" He then looked at Williams and said"its your turn for the gong now. Your DFC will be presented tonight at Fighter Command by Dowding, 1900. I will have my car take you in. Freddy you will go with him for a meeting with Dowding and Parks. They want to have details on how well the 2 new squadrons are doing and when they will be operational. Also to make more plans in the use of the Typhoons."

Freddy shrugged- she had expected something like that. She then smiled perkily at Williams. "Glad to see someone else having to dress up and get awarded." She then looked at the GC. "Sir I am going to head over and start grilling the 4th and 5th squadrons. I intend to make them operational today if their progress continues. I do not think we have to worry about any more raids today". The GC nodded." I agree – the Germans will not be back today except maybe some recon. I will call the flight line and make sure they are waiting for you."

Freddy looked at her watch and saw it was noon. She decided to grab a quick bite at the mess hall and then head over. After that, she grabbed a ride over to the flight line and found the other two squadrons standing by their planes. "Ok people, climb in, lets get some training in". Freddy spent the next 2 hrs working their tails off, culminating with firing at the range. At 1400 she was back on the ground grilling them verbally. She was satisfied with their progress they were as ready as the rest of them were. Still not blooded, but otherwise ready. She thought about doing some more air work- they would need an hour to re arm the planes. She then decided to do that- letting the ground crew know. She then told the pilots to get something to eat since they would be going up again. Their groans made her smile. She then went over to the main barracks and rousted out the other 3 squadrons who had been relaxing and resting. "Ok I just finished grilling and drilling the newbies, now its your turn. Head out to the planes. " Freddy spent the next hour working them, then having them fire and practice. Their progress was encouraging. She then told them to spend another 30 minutes practicing as squadrons and left their SL's to decide how to do it and landed. She told the ground crew to just gas it, not re arm it. She then gathered the newbies and talked to them untill the other 3 squadrons landed. Then she took them up for another hour, plus firing practice. Their progress was equally encouraging. After she landed and critiqued them, she then told then that she was recomending their activation immediately. They cheered. Freddy looked at her watch and saw that it was 1700. She decided to get something to eat and then take a bath and change for the meeting that night.

The driver assigned to Freddy was waiting for them precisely at 1815. She and Williams got in and laid back. It was a pleasant ride. She and Williams talked about their backgrounds a little. He had grown up on a farm, and had watched planes fly from a nearby airfield and had joined up when he was 18. Unfortunately he had to wait for 6 years before he could become a pilot, since at that time budgets were very tight. It was not untill late 1937 that he got a chance. He had trained in biplanes, then the Defiant, then the Hurricane, and just before December had moved to the Spitfire.

He had been a section leader in January, bumped to squadron leader in early May. The battles in France had been hard, but he had learned a lot. He had managed to get almost half his squadron home, which was a real triumph considering the circumstances.

Freddy then gave him the nickel tour of her life. Being born in south Africa, but growing up in Los Angeles. Then the day on her 12th birthday that she met Mac and started to fly. A somewhat edited account of her time as a stunt flyer. Describing how Mac had taught her to fly and then to dogfight, and her joy at competing and sometimes even beating him when they went at it.

The wistfulness and sadness in her voice at the end told Williams just how much she had cared for Mac, and before she told him, he knew Mac was gone. Wow, he thought, competing against a guy is tough enough, but a dead guy and her first love is even tougher. He then brought himself up short as he realized where his thinking was going. Williams had not had a really serious romance; there had been several girls, but nothing that was really all that much. Certainly nothing as serious as Freddy had had. But he had to admit that he was interested; VERY interested.

The ceremony for Williams DFC was fairly low key- Freddy told him to be gratefull. Afterwards the meeting with Dowding and Parks was almost as low key. Williams was a little on edge; he had been in the RAF for almost 10 years and this much rank in the room got him a little flustered. Freddy thought it was charming.

In the meeting Freddy let them know that she wanted to make the 2 new squadrons Operational effective the next day. Neither Dowding nor Parks were particularly surprised. They had no objections. The meeting then turned on how to best use the Typhoons. That days immense victory had buoyed everyones hopes and expectations. For Dowding, especially, the days events had been very relieving. He had known up untill just a few days ago that they were losing the battle. That was one of the main reasons he had been willing to take a chance on Freddy and give her so much authority. The Air staff had been aghast; the Cabinet(where he knew he was not particularly well thought of) had been very doubtfull as well. But so far, the results had been more then had been reasonably hoped. A quiet feeling of vindication permeated his soul now. It was clear that his decisions had been the correct ones. As he looked across the table at the two Wing Commanders, he realize just how lucky he, and the RAF and the country, were, with such young people standing out front to take the brunt of the battle.

Parks, someone who was less apt for self reflection,or self doubt, was thinking that the corner had turned. Todays losses, coupled with the losses from the last few days, must give the Jerries pause.

They could not take this kind of result more then once or twice. They had to either change tactics or quit. He did not think they would quit- they were much too stubborn for that; and the fanatical crazies that ran Germany would not give up easily either. So they would be back; and probably with some new tactics. Clearly they could not continue as they had. He looked at Freddy and the other Wing Commander- those two; he thought, do they have any idea really just how important their contribution really is? Like Dowding, Parks had known they were losing up untill the last few days. That had changed, and now they had to take advantage of it. They must keep up the pressure and finish this battle soon.

Dowding looked at Parks and caught his eye. Parks nodded.

He reached towards a folder laying next to him and pulled out a small box. He then handed it to Dowding. Freddy and Williams were watching closely, obviously very curious. Dowding then looked at Freddy and handed her the box. Freddy looked at him, he nodded, and she opened the box and looked inside. Her eyes widened hugely and her mouth dropped open. Williams , seeing that look, leaned over to see what was in the box. What he saw had his mouth drop open as well. It was the rank insignia for a RAF Group Captain. Freddy raised dazed eyes to Dowdings. He smiled and said"Since there are now 5 Squadrons operational, that is more then a Wing. It is a group. So they need a group captain to command, especially since in a week or so there will be 7. Eventually 9. We will have to look at some things; we will need wing commanders for the three wings we will eventually have. But the current squadron leaders really do not have the experience to be promoted yet. We will have to see. Wing Commander Williams, your promotion will probably follow in a few days. Since we intend to have at least 3 or 4 squadrons supporting each wing of Typhoons, the need for a group captain for them will be a priority. Fortunately finding Wing commanders for Spitfires will be much easier."

Freddy was still somewhat dazed on the ride back to Kenley. A GROUP CAPTAIN. She had been told by Dowding that the PM had actually brought it up first, saying that she would need that additional rank with all the squadrons that would be coming, and that they would soon be operating independently of her, so she would need to act in a more supervisory position. Williams seemed to find the whole thing somewhat amusing; Freddy glared at him, then smiled evily; telling him that his time would be coming soon.

That shut him up, she thought nastily. A thought occurred; she would need to get her uniform altered again. She sighed; hopefully the tailor would be available tomorrow.

Freddy found that she did not need to worry about her uniform; the tailor was waiting for her with a new one, complete with stripes and only missing the inignia she was carrying. Startled, she stammered her thanks only to have him wave it off. This was his job, he pointed out. The Group Captain had called him just after they had left; he had taken her spare uniform and had made the changes rather quickly. He only had to alter the sleeves and do a little work on her cap. Not that much. Freddy thanked him.

Freddy hit the sack that night still somewhat dazed. Luckily it did not hamper her sleep. Promptly at 0530 she was up and ready to go. The base group captain was twinkling at her when she met him and Williams at the mess hall at 0600. He congratulated her on her promotion, but told her that that still did not mean she could get out of doing paperwork, which was starting to pile up. He told her that his secretary would get together with her today to help her get started. Freddy groaned, but nodded. She told him that she felt her first responsibility was to train and lead her Typhoons, and that if it meant that the paperwork would be late then so be it. The Group captain smiled and told her that she would rather tangle with the germans then try and beat paperwork. It was the invincible opponent, never beaten in the history of warfare. Freddy just shook her head in defeat.

Right after eating Freddy headed out to the flight line to find all 5 squadrons of pilots waiting for her in formation and at attention.

She looked at them and sighed. "Ok, since you clearly got the word, probably sooner then I did (there were some snickers in the back ranks, which earned them a glare from her), we do not need to go over it. At this time we are going to be on standby; I really doubt that the Germans will be trying anything major today; yesterday just had to really shake them up, and the boffins do not think they will try anything around here today. BUT they just might so we will watch and wait and see. One thing we are going to do. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Squadrons will move to Biggin today; we do not want all the Typhoons on one field. One should never put all their eggs in one basket. What we do after that will depend on whether Jerry finally sees the light and quits on us."

Freddy had talked to the Group Captain who had agreed that they needed to redeploy. He had called Biggin and had let them know.

Freddy was in operations at 0800 watching the big board. She was hoping that today would be quiet so she could get in some more training with the Newbies. She also knew that the other two squadrons would be coming pretty soon and wanted to be able to concentrate on them. She was told on getting there to call group. She did and talked to Parks. He told her that the next two squadrons would be at the factory the next day. The last needed Typhoon to complete them should be done the same day. She asked him if they had made any progress on coming up with the Wing Commanders she would be needing fairly soon. He promised her to have some names to look over the next day. She thanked him and rang off. She wanted to get all 3 Wing Commanders as soon as possible and start training them on the Typhoon. She had a feeling that they would be needed. Freddy was trying to get used to the rank she now carried. Outside of group or command HQ, not too many Group Captains were around. Kenley was used to having one, not two. Not to mention that she,while an expert in fighting and flying the Typhoon, knew diddly squat about what a Group Captain did. Then she looked down at the board as the girls started to plot formations showing up in France.

Williams went into the operations room looking for Freddy.

He wanted to talk to her about the redeployment. He was looking at perhaps going to Biggin himself. It seemed to him that more Spit squadrons would be coming and Biggin had more room then Kenley did. And there should be where he was to be since that is where more of the Spit squadrons were. He knew that in the next day or so 2 more Typhoon squadrons would be coming to Henley.

They really were expecting too much of Freddy to have her both leading them in combat and training them as well. She was being spread too thin. Despite the fact that up till now it had worked it was still wrong. He walked up to where she was standing on the balcony, looking at the big board. He saw the formations being plotted over France and grimaced. It looked like some big raids were being planned again.

Freddy looked at the raids forming up and sighed. She just knew they were coming their way. The Germans were going to be stubborn and come right at them- she would bet on it. They would be bigger and have more squadrons roaming farther away from the formation- that was the only chance they had. Surely the germans had figured that out by now. Then she had a thought- take it to them- do not wait for them to get ready. She looked at Williams and said" Lets talk to the Group Captain- I want to take off as soon as possible and go out and meet them early- much earlier then they expect. That maybe the only edge we will have today. " Williams looked at the board and nodded. They immediately headed for the upper level where the group captain was. He looked up as they approached, seeing Freddy's intent, determined look. He raised his eyebrows and asked"Clearly you have an idea. What is it?" Freddy told him. He thought for a minute, and nodded. He then picked up the phone and called the flight line to get all planes ready for immediate take off. He then picked up the scrambler and called Group. He asked to talk to Parks immediately. He was soon put on and told about Freddy's idea. Parks promptly agreed, and told them he would have a couple of squadrons harass the Germans in half an hour, as soon as they crossed the channel. That should help keep their attention, and buy the Typhoons and their cohorts some time. He asked where Freddy intended the fight to take place. Freddy looked at the board, thought about time factors, and said "about 20-40 miles in from the channel". The GC relayed that and then hung up after saying Yes Sir. He looked at Freddy and said"have at them, and good luck". Then He saluted them, which they returned.

Freddy wasted no time. She got to the flight line- after making a quick stop to phone the factory- she would not be out untill the afternoon, the newbies would have to wait- and signaled all 5 squadrons to gather around. She looked at them"A big one is coming and we are going to go after them instead of waiting for them to come to us. We are going to hit them right after they cross the channel. Group is going to send in a couple of squadrons to get their attention, then we are going to hit them hard, head on, then back off and hit them again, and then again if we have to. Get in your planes and start up". She turned to Williams and said." You get to pick your time to hit the fighters- but we are going right in at them. No tricks the first time- right for them." He nodded."Makes sense- this should take them off guard. The only bad thing is that the fighters will have more fuel and time to stay and fight- unlike farther in" She agreed, but said:"Catching them by surprise is more important. We have to make them think about getting taken down from the moment they cross the channel. The more doubt and the more different ways we hit them the better."

15 minutes later, Freddy was leading the whole group on a direct heading for the largest raid- which did appear to be heading for either Kenley, Biggin, or Northolt- just like yesterday. They were coming it at 18000 ft, a little higher then normal. Probably since we hit them from below yesterday they want more warning time. Williams had acelerated past the Typhoons who were at 350 MPH. Wide open, the spits were only about 25 mph faster. That was enough for them to get out in front, though. She waited for him to contact her- once again on the private frequency. She was absolutely sure she was doing the right thing by hitting them early- this should catch them off guard. She doubted the fighters were yet in position, and could very well be drawn off by the spits hitting them early on Parks orders. No matter, she thought, this is going to be a bare knuckles brawl- head on, no tricks. Then she heard Williams:"This looks good, Freddy, the spits are harassing them now and the front fighters are responding. The rest of the fighters are still behind the bombers, moving up. I am going to take the Spits in right now- the way should be clear for you. Good luck"

Freddy said"Good luck to YOU. We will hit them head on and then climb- its riskier but its something we have not done before. That and we can hit them again quicker. We will fire the rockets and then some 37's; then pull up and climb to 25000 and then dive on them. After that we shall see."

Freddy changed frequencies to talk to her Typhoons."Here is how it is going to go. We are going at them head on and shoot the rockets, then 3 37 rds and then PULL up in a climb to 25000 and then dive on them. We will use the 20's to sweep any fighters that try and block us, maybe a 37 or 2 if we have to, then hit the bombers. We will stay together untill we are through the stream. At that point, 1st and 2nd will head to the right; 3rd 4th and 5th will head to the left; I will go to the left. We will then go for Kenley and regroup. If the germans are still coming we will go after them again. OK people, get ready."

Freddy was pulling a few G's in a hard climb after the first pass. The German fighters were closing. They could climb faster then the Typhoon could; luckily they were still too far away to fire.

But they would be a problem diving back down. Looking back down at the bomber stream, she was pretty satisfied by the first passes results. A good number of hits, bombers jettisoning their loads and fleeing, others smoking and fleeing. Maybe half the stream was left, and they were not exactly in formation. They had indeed caught them by surprise. She looked around for the Spits; they were forming up and coming in again at the bomber stream, now ignoring the fighters. She nodded to herself- that just might help if they can draw off some of the fighters. She saw the spits hit the bombers; and decided, after another look at the German fighters, that now was the time. Keying her mic"OK people, lets go back. I want everyone to do a tight loop and dive on my mark… ready ….. NOW ." Freddy led them down. The German fighters suddenly found themselves facing 5 squadrons of heavily armed planes coming right at them. Freddy then ordered the group to give them a couple of 37's along with a burst of 20's. "Pick your targets and let fly- fire at will" She then suited action to words and put a 37 into the lead german fighter- it exploded quite well She fired another 37, did not think she hit anything, then gave a burst of 20's that shredded one that had tried to turn and run. Then she was through the fighters and aiming at the stream, which was even more broken up after the spits had made their pass. AND they were climbing towards her- to try and intercept the german fighters that were now turning to chase her Typhoons. Then she heard the what she had been dreading but knew was inevitable. A pilot yelling he was hit and bailing out; another one saying he was hit but was going to try and make it back to base. Freddy closed her eyes for a moment and said a prayer for them. Then keyed her mic"Concentrate, people, aim for the bombers, we have a job to do; 1st and 2nd, to the right; everyone else to the left lets go and let them have it" And they were there and firing. With a ruthless grimace of anger on her face at the thoughts of losing some of her people, she took aim and let fly. She knew she got a hit with each of her remaining 37 shells; 2 blew up and one turned away smoking; then they were through the bomber stream and heading for Kenley.

Freddy sighed with relief- the germans were not following.

She began the process of regrouping. It took almost 15 minutes, and they were almost on top of Kenley before she got them together. The losses were better then she had thought. There were only 5 missing. She got the info and grimaced. 1 from the 1st had bailed out; 1 from the 2nd had gone down smoking and was not known if he had bailed out or what. 2 from the 4th had been damaged and were trying to make it back to Kenley. The 3rd and the 5th were intact and ok. Some of them had taken some hits but not enough damage to force them to return to base. She looked around; some of the Spits had shown up as well. She changed the frequency and called Williams. No reply. She tried the Spits frequency and tried. Then she was told by one of the SL's that he ahd been seen chasing after a couple of germans who were right on top of another Spit. She closed her eyes and said another prayer.

Then she changed back to the common frequency after telling the spits pilots to change as well. She then asked for their tally. It was not bad, but still- 10 planes missing, plus Williams. And 4 others were damaged- she ordered them back to base. She then checked the situation. She could not see anyone heading their way. She then called Kenley and asked for info on the raid. Kenley replied that they were checking but they thought the raid had turned back; what was left of them. Freddy waited 5 minutes and then when still nothing was in sight she looked at the fuel gages and decided to head back to Kenley- they were only 5-10 minutes away but they were getting low on fuel. Then Kenley called: it was over, the raid was gone. Freddy said thank god to herself and ordered the spits in first- they had used the most fuel and had the least range.

Freddy landed at Kenley, accepting congratulations from the ground crew and her pilots in a distracted, almost absent minded way. She was desperately trying not think about Williams. She saw the Group Captain waiting by his car. She walked towards him, asking THAT question with her eyes. He told her that there was no word yet. Though the Typhoon pilot that had bailed out was already on his way back. That left only the other one that had been seen leaving the area smoking. Freddy knew she should be gratefull that the losses were so low; but she could not quite do so. She headed over to the debriefing with slow, steady footsteps that still seemed to have some drag to them.

The Group Captain watched her go, a sad look on his face. Dear Lord, he prayed, she has done so much and accomplished so much, don't do this to her.

Almost robotically, Freddy answered the debriefers questions. Even the news that they had destroyed 70 bombers while damaging another 21, and also downing 11 fighters, while damaging 5 more did not raise her spirits. Then word came in that the missing Typhoon pilot had managed to crash land his plane good enough to walk away. Freddy sighed with relief- she still had not lost anyone. That they had lost only two planes was remarkable. 2 others had serious damage that would take a day or so to repair; but that was it. She decided to send those pilots to the Factory. They could start training the newbies. And then they could bring back the replacement planes. She informed the Group Captain of that decision and he promised to get them headed out right away. Freddy decided that she should stay here for a while- instead of going to the factory as she had planned. She tried to tell herself that she needed to stay here for good reasons. With Williams missing, there was no one else in case the germans attacked again. And she needed to start on that paperwork she had been avoiding. But deep inside she knew better; she had to stay here untill she knew for certain. She quietly accepted the congratulations from the debriefer- she was now credited with 35 total aircraft destroyed.

By far the leading English ace. Big deal, she thought.

With a determined step, Freddy went into HQ and straight for her desk. Stopping by the GC's secretary, she asked for help in dealing with the paperwork. And she got down to it. An hour later, after another congratulatory call from Parks, she was still hard at it.

Tedious was not the word, she thought, mind numbing is a lot closer. Then the door to the office opened and she looked up… and almost fainted. There stood Wing Commander Guy Williams, looking tired and somewhat mussed, but very alive and in one piece. Freddy just looked at him…then she jumped up and ran into his arms and received a crushing hug. Behind Williams, the GC motioned the secretary out and quietly closed the door- though he doubted that even the crack of doom would have disturbed them.

Williams held Freddy and knew without a doubt that this moment was the best of his life. Freddy slowly raised a tear streaked but joyous face and told him"I was so sure you were gone." He just hugged her some more and said nothing. Slowly Freddy backed away; reluctantly but firmly. Williams held out his handerchief and she wiped her eyes.

She smiled, somewhat mistily but very definitely a smile, and handed it back to him. She then said" I have been working on my paperwork, and almost have it done." "congratulations" he said, and they both laughed. She took a deep breath ." I need to head out to the factory- the newbies are there. I sent the pilots that lost their planes or had them badly damaged out there to start training them and pick up new planes. But I really should be there. I am actually the only authorized pilot for the Typhoons as regards signing for them for the government. And I am also in charge of training as well. " Williams shook his head- "you are trying to do too much-no one can do it all"

Freddy smiled"Maybe- but I will try". Freddy she looked at her watch- it was just about noon. She looked at him"What happened?" He shrugged. I was trying to get a Spit out of the trouble the two jerries were getting him into; I managed to do that but 2 others jumped me and put some rds into my engine. I managed to shake them before it quit but I was too low to jump so I had to try and crash land it. Luckily I found a level pasture and put her down. The nearby farmer came out and picked me up on his tractor and took me to the nearest town. But that took almost an hour. And it took another hour to get me back to Kenley." Freddy just shook her head.

Feeling happier then she had in a long time, Freddy headed out to the flight line. After stopping by operations to make sure nothing was brewing, she hopped into her typhoon and headed out to the factory. There she found the 4 pilots running the newbies through the drill. She told them to grab the replacement planes and head back to Henley.Before she had left Henley, she had told the first 3 Squadrons to go to Biggin, so as to make room for the next 2 that she would bring back with her.She then drilled the newbies on the cockpits and instuments, and had them take off and land a few times. Then she put them through the paces around the area. She had already accepted the next group of planes on behalf of the RAF(she was still the only rep that could sign for them). None of the aircraft except hers was armed ( they had not received their latest shipment of munitions) so she was able to really put them through the wringer without worrying about the extra weight and danger. Finally about 1700 she had them land and refuel. Then at 1800 she took them to Kenley. After landing she had the gound crews begin to arm them.

Then she took the pilots in to meet their groupmates and get something to eat. At 1900 she took them up again with full loads and had them fire their first rds at the range. Landing them as it began to get dark. She then spent an hour grilling them and drilling them on tactics and contingencies.She then turned them loose and hit the sack.

Up at 0530 the next morning, Freddy was feeling pretty good. She took her shower and definitly had a spring in her step as she headed to the mess hall. There she found Williams waiting for her. Suddenly she was feeling shy. He grinned at her and she blushed. Then she got mad at herself- you ninny, you are not some schoolgirl- you have heavy responsibilities and you should act like it. She stalked over to the food line, got her tray, and marched over to the table and plomped down. He had his eyebrows up to his crew cut at her demeanor. She looked at him, frowned, and took a deep breath. " I want to say something. We will have to be very circumspect. All things considered, I cannot afford to have anyone questioning anything about me. Too many people will want to find fault or claim I was very lucky, or something like that. No matter what I want to say and do, I MUST be carefull." Then she looked him right in the eye. He was frowning too. " I understand. And though it pains me to do so, I agree. We have to be carefull about appearences. But that does not change how I feel." And he looked her right in the eye. She smiled.

Freddy headed over to Operations to get the early word. So far nothing had shown up on the radar, but it was only 0630. She then went down to the flight line to talk to her pilots. She found them waiting by their planes. She decided to take them right up and work their tales off, concentrating on the newbies. While in the air, she had the 4 squadrons face off with each other, maneuvering and reacting. The newbies did pretty good, she thought. But then none of them really have all that much more experience then the others do. For more then an hour and a half she ran them ragged. Then she called in to Operations and asked if anything looked likely. The negative answer cheered her up, so she took them to the gunnery range and had them fire all their weapons. That took almost another hour, as she had them fire in squadrons, instead of sections. She had them maneuver and move before they fired, making it harder on them. They still did pretty good, though. Then she had them land. Still armed herself, she told the ground crew to fuel her plane quickly. Freddy dashed to operations to check on things; even though it was now 0930, there were no major raids forming up; looked like some harassing raids and recon. Freddy then flew to Biggin. There she took up the other 3 squadrons and spent the next 2 hrs drilling them, then having them take firing practice. She then told them to land and re arm and stay ready and headed back to Kenley. She got back at 1300. After another look at the board to see that nothing had changed, she went to the mess hall to get some lunch, then headed to the office to work on some more paperwork.

At 1500 Parks called and told her to bring Williams with her and be at Fighter Command HQ at 1700. They wanted to discuss plans and possible german reactions.

After another look in operations to make sure nothing was going on, she called the flight lines at both Biggin and Kenley and released the pilots from standby. Told them to have some fun tonight but to be ready first thing in the morning. Freddy knew they needed some relaxation. Freddy was undecided about the last 2 squadrons; they had had a fair amount of training and drill, but she really would like for them to have more before she declared them operational. She informed the Group Captain of her decision to let the pilots out to have some fun. He agreed that they really needed some distraction and that this was as good a time as any. Williams had also agreed and had given the word to his pilots here and at Biggin to take the rest of the day off. Freddy also asked the Group Captain to let the ground crews off as well, since they had been working pretty hard also. He smiled at her and told her that he had already done that. Virtually the whole base would be crowding the nearby towns tonight. Freddy grinned"I imagine its going to get a little wild out there". Williams laughed and said "Yes, but they need this". They then got into Freddy's car and were driven to Fighter Command HQ.

The meeting was fairly relaxed, though a little more formal since the Air Staff were included this time. Freddy was well aware that some there still disapproved on principal a woman leading men into combat, but did not dare object considering how successful it had been. That cheered her up some. There was a great deal of speculation on how the Germans were going to react, on what their next tactics might be. The fact that they still had to try and send out hunter/killer groups to try and intercept the Typhoons well away from the bomber stream was attributed to the orders, probably from Goering himself, that the fighters had to protect the bombers. Considering their failure so far, that had to be pushing them to try something else. And everyone agreed that their options were limited. Either seek them out or have someone coordinating over the raid to direct response to them. And realistically it could not be said that a coordinator would be a sure thing to really accomplish anything. So the consensus was that the hunter/killer thing was the logical next step. THAT would require a lot more fighters accompanying the bombers, since they still needed a strong fighter presence with the bombers to counter standard attacks. Using more fighters would prevent the previous practice of only sending half the force per day, giving the others that vitally needed day of rest. That was what had been wearing Fighter Command down- THEY were not getting rest like that and were steadily being worn down. Or had been untill the recent days off due to weather. And today had been another one that allowed a fair amount of rest for the fighters. Freddy looked at Dowding and told him that she was considering activating the next 2 squadrons if they were needed vitally, but that she would prefer to wait at least another day. Dowding thought about it, then asked the staff for their opinions. They peppered Freddy with questions about how much and what kind of training she had given them,and what more she wanted to do. Freddy made the point that they were ok as long as they stayed in squadron or group formation, but that if they split up she was worried. And the simple fact that loaded they were in no condition to mix it up with 109's no matter how experienced they were. She pointed out that even the most experienced, 1st Squadron, only had a week as typhoon pilots, though they had already been in more then half a dozen battles. Parks then interjected that that many fights for a fighter pilot was considered sufficient to mark them as reasonably experienced. Freddy agreed, but pointed out that it was a lot more complicated for a Typhoon pilot, considering all the weapons they were handling and the disadvantages they were under if pressed by fighters. Parks agreed with that, but still maintained that the 1st squadron should be considered well experienced and veteran now. Freddy bowed her head, and nodded, conceding the point.

It was decided that 2 squadrons of Typhoons would each be sent to Tangmere and Manston to bolster their defenses. Those had been the two most badly beaten up fields so far, with the exception of Dover, which was now non operational. Freddy decided to send the 1st and 3rd to Manston, and the 2nd and 4th to Tangmere. The 5th 6th and 7th would stay at Kenley for the time being. Freddy really did not want to let them go, but the need was great. She really wanted to go with one of them, but Dowding, Parks and the air staff all agreed that she needed to finish training the newer squadrons, and that the others would have to learn to stand on their own. Dowding had the names of some Wing Commanders that he was suggesting for taking command of the Typhoon wings that were now being created. As soon as Freddy signed off on them, one each of the 6th and 7th would be sent to join the others. The 5th would be kept at Kenley and added to with the 8th and 9th as soon as they were formed. Freddy decided that they would operate with the new Wing Commanders after she had hand picked them. Williams also was going to have input as regards the Spitfire wing commanders that would operate with them. His promotion to Group Captain was formally approved that day. The details were then thrashed out. Freddy asked about availability of munitions at Tangmere and Manston, and was told that they would be sent out that next day. The Typhoons would fly down fully armed. The ground crews would arrive sometime that day. Freddy pointed out that in order to have sufficient ground crews, all the experienced ones from Kenley and Biggin would have to be sent, save for a couple who would have to train new ones. That would leave Kenley without ground crews for all intents and purposes. That would pretty much hamstring any training she wanted to do there. She proposed bringing some of the ground crew from the factory down to help train the ones at Kenley. That was agreed to.

Freddy asked, that since the lack of ground crews would pretty much keep the Typhoons at Kenley gounded, that she be allowed to switch back and forth between Manston and Tangmere untill they were trained. The Air staff objected, but she pointed out that the new Wing Commanders that SHE would be picking needed some training of their own, and who else was going to do it? Dowding came to a decision that she would do that unless a major raid was pointed at the trio of Kenley, Northolt and Biggin- they were to be considered her primary responsibility. Freddy then asked that the move to either Manston or Tangmere be delayed untill she approved both Wing Commanders that would operate there. She would go with the first and certify him, then go to the second. Dowding agreed- and then there was an argument about which field would be protected first. It was decided that Manston was in the most need. Freddy agreed and decided to head out there first thing in the morning with the 1st and 3rd squadrons. Williams agreed to pick the Wing commander for the Spits in time for him to be there that day as well.

After the meeting, Freddy and Williams met with Parks and went over the names of the people they were going to pick for the Wing Commander slots for both the Spits and the Typhoons. In a little less then an hour, they had come up with the 4 names they wanted, and they had been called and told to head out that night to their new bases. Freddy talked to both of hers, and told them that they needed to first go up to the factory to pick up their typhoons, where she would meet them. They would fly out first thing in the morning to Kenley, and from there the first would come down to Manston. Williams told Freddy that he could cadge a ride back to Kenely and for her to head to the factory asap. She agreed. It was 2200 before by the time she got there, and was pleasently surprised to find both Wing Commanders already there. She spent an hour talking to them and briefing them in. Then they sacked out for the night. At 0530 they were up and familiarizing themselves with the cockpits and the controls. At 0600 at first light they were up and flying. Freddy ran them hard for an hour, then had them fire their weapons.

Then she landed and had them reload and refuel, and head towards Kenley.

By 0800 they were at Kenley. Freddy hopped out and told the gathered pilots for the 1st and 3rd to meet their new Wing Commander, then get in their planes and get ready. She went into operations and looked at the big board. There were formations gathering in France. Looked like good sized raids. She went over to where the Group Captains were and talked to Williams. He introduced her to the 2 Wing Commanders he had picked. She immediately asked which was going to Manston, and told him that his opposite number was down on the flight line talking to his pilots. He promptly headed that way, Freddy nodded approvingly. Williams let her know that he was staying at Kenley today. She nodded and told him that she would be heading down to Manston for todays fun and games. She would take the new Wing Commander through the paces today then it would be up to him. If they made a move on Kenley, she would head there instead. She then sped back to the flight line. There she talked to the Wing Commander, Spitfires. He told her he was getting in his plane to head to Manston right away. He hoped to have time to talk to the 2 Spit squadrons there that he would be leading but doubted he would have the time if Manston was a target for today. Freddy agreed with him. Hopping into her plane, she called for the Typhoons to get going and follow her.

Freddy was just a few minutes out of Manston when she was notified that one of the raids was definitly heading for Manston. She acknowledged the message and asked that the Spitfires rendezvous with them. She was then hailed by the Wing Commander who told her they had just taken off and as soon as he had them assembled he would head her way. She looked around and gave the coordinates. Freddy then took the typhoons up to 25000 feet, and circled slowly, waiting. The new Wing Commander, on her orders, was tucked in tight to her as her wingman. She had told him to watch and learn and copy everything she did. Freddy then called Kenley to see what was what there. Kenley replied that it looked like no one had any interest in them or that area. Somewhat cheered up by that, Freddy strained her eyes to pick up the oncoming raid. She wished that they could have gotten in position earlier, but what will be, will be. Then she saw it coming. It was of respectable size, but nowhere near as big as the attacks on Kenley, Biggin and Northolt had been. About 150 total, with what looked like a majority of bombers. And the fighters were all stacked above and behind- a strictly reactive formation. Freddy keyed her mic to the common frequency that had been established "Ok people, this bunch has no clue we are here and what is about to fall on them like a ton of bricks. Typhoons, get ready, since we have no fighters to get through we are going to dive and hit them from above and ahead. Spitfires, follow us in and get your licks in on the bombers then take a crack at the fighters. Typhoons, we will hit them, dive through the formation, turn to heading 245 and head down to 8000 and regroup; if they are still heading for Manston we will climb for another attack right at their belly. If not we land at Manston.

It was a slaughter. Coming to the Germans totally by surprise, the initial salvo of rockets had completely broken up the formation and those not hit or damaged jettisoned their bombs and fled. Freddy had had them fire their 37's and 20's on the way down once it became clear they were breaking up completely. The fighters had gotten in their licks and the German fighters had really been unable to do anything, eventually following the bombers back to France. Landing at Manston Freddy saw that this field really was in bad shape and that that days attack might just have closed it. She was glad to find that the munitions and ground crew had made it there in time. As they were being refueled and rearmed, they were debriefed. Freddy was credited with 3 bombers destroyed and 2 damaged, bringing her total to 39. As a whole, the Typhoons were credited with 28 bombers destroyed, and 10 damaged. The fighters had gotten another 10 bombers destroyed, with 6 damaged. No aircraft had been damaged, outside of a few bullet holes in a couple of the Spits from the bombers guns. Upwards of 50 of the bombers had been destroyed or damaged. A very good mornings work. Freddy received a call from Parks, congratulating her but telling her also that a small raid had hit Tangmere, damaging if further. The 2nd and 4th were now on their way down there, with their Wing Commander. Freddy decided to head to Tangmere as soon as she was refueled and rearmed. She was willing to bet that a bigger attack would be heading that way fairly soon. Parks agreed.

After the call, Freddy got the pilots together for a critique. Afterwards, she told the Wing Commander in front of all the pilots that he was the one in charge now and good luck. She then hopped in her Typhoon and flew to Tangmere. Once there, Freddy decided that it was in as bad a condition as any she could remember. The Typhoons would be there within 30 minutes. She checked her watch and saw that it was coming up on 1100. She headed over to Operations to see what the what was. There she was treated as some kind of conquering hero that would turn the tide; this made her very uncomfortable. The ground crews and munitions had been a little later getting there then Manston; no surprise since it was a longer road trip. Luckily they had gotten there AFTER the raid. Unfortunately, the Spitfire squadrons there were both understrength. A total of only 21 were available, as compared to a normal 36. And that included the new Wing Commander. He quietly told her that these squadrons had been beaten down over the last few days, and were just about done. Freddy asked him if another squadron would be a good idea. His look told her all she needed to know. She asked the BC for use of his phone and got on to Group. Parks agreed to send another squadron down; one of those at Biggin. She was pleased at that. Looking down at the big board, she saw another raid forming up. Since it was farther west then most, she just knew it was aiming for Tangmere; the Germans wanted to knock it out. After the beating they had gotten at Manston that morning, Freddy was betting that the pressure was on to have something good to report to Fat Hermann.

The 2nd and 4th Squadrons arrived at about that time. After they landed, and were being refueled, Freddy talked to them. She did not have to let them know the situation; it was very obvious. She had left word in operations to call the minute there were pretty sure that a raid was headed their way. She then worked them over,them and the new Wing Commander. In 45 minutes the word was there that a good sized one was heading their way. The Squadron from Biggin had just landed. Talking to the SL, he was informed that they were taking off and where the rendezvous would be. The Wing Commander, Spitfires, assured Freddy that he would bring the whole Group together. Freddy nodded and climbed in her plane.

Freddy decided to keep the group down low this time, since the survivors from the first raid at Manston might have spread the word. If the Germans were smart enough to put 2 and 2 together, this bunch might be a little more alert and dangerous. At 5000 ft, more then 10000 below the oncoming bombers, she had a feeling that they would escape notice, at least for a while. She had a feeling that this group had been kept at the ready that morning to respond to which ever field had taken most damage, in order to finish it off. The speed at which this one had formed and headed their way seemed to support that.

Then the Wing Commander, spitfires called her and let her know that they were on their way. Looking up at the bombers, she could see that all their fighters were above and AHEAD of the stream. Freddy smiled at that; PERFECT. Calling the WC, Spit, back, she told him to climb to 20000 and be ready to hit them AFTER the typhoons threw their first punch. Hopefully most of the Fighters would be drawn down low and leave whatever was left of the bombers as meat on the table for the Spits. He acknowledged that and said they would be ready. Freddy then waited for another 2 minutes, timing everything inside her head, before giving the order to push the throttles to max and start climbing. The next few minutes dragged terribly for Freddy. She kept expecting them to be seen and for someone to call the fighters on down. But it did not happen, finally, just as she was getting the group in position, she saw the fighters starting to turn and dive. Deliberately, she waited untill she was sure of the distance before giving the order. 204 rockets took flight. She watched with ghoulish enjoyment as some of the bombers immediately dropped their loads and started to dodge. Most of them held formation, though. At least untill the rockets hit. Whether it was luck or increased practice or what, Freddy was willing to bet that at least 20 of the rockets either hit or were very close, as more then half the bombers blew up or broke apart or started smoking and such. The formation came completely apart. Streams of bombs started pouring down. Deciding that the risks outweighed the possible return, Freddy snapped out the order to do a full loop and dive for safety. She led the typhoons on a hard run to the rear of what was left of the bombers. Looking over her shoulder she saw the Spits now in their dives heading for the fleeing bombers. The german fighters were coming after the Typhoons for all they were worth. It was going to be close before the superior speed of the Typhoons took them away. It was, but not close enough as the Typhoons soon widened their lead. Freddy took them within sight of the coast before looping back towards Tangmere. The WC, Spits then called her to let her know that the threat to Tangmere was gone. Freddy acknowledged him and headed down.

Landing at Tangmere, Freddy and the Typhoons were joyously welcomed. The beating the field had been taking truly underlined how tough the battle up till now had been. The hangdog expression all too obvious BEFORE the days results had hammered that home. To see the cheerfull, and more importantly HOPEFULL faces really got to Freddy. After the debriefing, Freddy was credited with 2 more bombers, bringing her total to 41. The Typhoons as a group were given 31 bombers destroyed and 12 damaged; well over 50 of the bombers. The Spits had eaten up another 10 bombers destroyed, and 4 damaged. And there were no losses for the good guys, Freddy thought. She then gathered the pilots and the Wing Commander together to have their critique. She first asked the Wing Commander for his input, knowing that she had to start sliding out from the immediate command she had had from the beginning to a more distant supervisory position. He did ok, saying that they needed more practice in formation flying and as sections for when they were not in large groups. He also recommended more practice at hard maneuvers; sudden ones like the loop Freddy had ordered. Doing that as a large formation was a lot harder then as a section. Freddy nodded and said that he would be doing that – since she would be going back to Kenley that evening. Freddy went on to say that they were now going to have to fend for themselves as she would be busy getting the last 2 squadrons ready, as well as shinning up the 6th and 7th Squadrons. She was not sure that they would be sending a third squadron here; it would depend on events. She was of a mind to do that, but it had to be approved by Group. She could tell that most of the pilots there felt that she had the pull to do that and make it stick, and since she wanted to do it it would happen. Freddy wanted to deny that, but an innate honesty forced her to admit that that was true at this time. If She wanted it, it almost certainly would occurr

Coming to a decision, she let them know that she would be going back to Kenley now and would try and get the 3rd squadron for both Manston and Tangmere approved as soon as possible. While at the moment that would leave only one at Kenley, she felt that they could reinforce pretty quickly – as long all three were not targeted at the same time.And she doubted that the Germans had that much courage. That brought smiles to all of them, and she took her leave.

Freddy arrived back at Kenley at 1300, and after checking in at operations and finding that at the moment there was no serious activity, called Group. Parks questioned her about the 3rd squadron, but she pointed out that it would only be a few days before the last 2 Squadrons would be ready and they were the ones that demanded Manston and Tangmere be protected. Parks chuckled and agreed – but made it clear that now she was to stay at Kenley and get them ready- that was now her first priority, since she had put the 2 Wing Commanders in charge at Tangmere and Manston. Freddy reluctantly agreed. Parks quietly told her that letting go of active command was the hardest thing a real leader went through. Knowing she was talking to the voice of experience, Freddy just as quietly told him she had not realized how hard letting go was going to be. Parks said that he understood and wished her luck, and gave her belated congratulations for the days good work. Freddy thanked him and rang off, after letting him know the name of the third Wing Commander she had chosen for the last group.

Freddy then went down to the flight line and rounded up the last 2 squadrons, the 6th and 7th. She had already ordered the 5th to head over to Manston. She would decide which of the last two would go to Tangmere that afternoon. After putting them through a gruelling 2 hr drill. They did quite well, and also on the practice range. She decided to send the 7th to Tangmere and keep the 6th at Kenley to build the last group around. Checking with operations again, she was told that only some recon and harassment raids were seen and no sign of anything more important. At that Freddy called Group again and asked for the ETA of the last 2 Squadrons. She was told that they were on their way to the factory now- and that the factory had been working around the clock and had just finished enough Typhoons to equip them. After telling group of her plans and of the choice of which squadrons went where, she asked when she could get the last Wing Commander. Informed that it would be another day before he got down from the North where he was at the moment, she told them to get him to the factory as soon as possible and to let her know when he was on the way. She would be heading over to the factory right away. After getting something to eat and checking with the Group Captain, and letting the pilots of the 6th Squadron that they could take it easy for the rest of the day, she headed out to the factory.

Landing at the factory at 1800, she was able to get the newbies oriented and up in the air for an hours flight time before the sun started to go down. She then decided on the spot to take them to Kenley that night. It was almost dark when they got to Kenley, just barely enough light to get them all down at 2030. She had decided to do this when she remembered that with the green ground crew at Kenley, she did not want to have to rely on them to rearm and refuel quickly in the morning. Now they could take their time and do it that night. The ground crew chief told her he was gratefull for that; he needed time to train them to do that sort of thing quickly. He could get a lot of that done that night.

Freddy told her pilots to get some sleep then went to the WAAF barracks for the same.

Up promptly at 0530, Freddy grabbed a quick breakfast and headed right out to the flight line and waited for her pilots to show up. At 0615 she had them in the air, pushing them hard and drilling them unmercifully. Something was telling Freddy to push hard, and she decided to listen to that insistent inner voice. For 2 hours she grilled and drilled them, and had them fire their rockets and guns. She was operating all 3 as one group, and not splitting them up. That inner voice was very definite about that. When they landed at 0830, she saw Williams waiting for her. Just as she got out of her plane, the Group Captains car pulled up. Telling her pilots to take it easy for a bit, she went up to them. The Group Captain pulled her and Williams off a little bit to talk to them privately. He told them that it looked like another major attack was heading their way. AND that it looked like Manston and Tangmere was being left alone. Freddy looked thoughtfull and asked"Do you think they believe that there are no Typhoons here now?" The Group Captain said"I just talked to Parks and he and the Air Staff think that is the case. That right now the Germans think that the only operational Typhoons are at Tangmere and Manston. And that leaves Kenley, Northolt and Biggin vulnerable." Freddy turned away and walked out a little bit, the two men following but not intruding. Freddy thought furiously. They are going to hit us with a big one to try and take advantage of what they think is a weakness. BUT they are going to be prepared for a response from us here- just in case we have more squadrons then they think we have. I wish we could hit then with every squadron…..Freddy stopped at that point. Every squadron….THEY COULD DO JUST THAT. Freddy turned to them and said "I need to talk to group NOW." They jumped in the GC's car and sped to operations. At almost a run they were up the stairs and to the nearest scrambler, attracting a lot of very interested looks. Freddy looked at Williams and the Group Captain and told them to call Manston and Tangmere and see if they could be ready for a concentrated assault from all sides from all 9 Squadrons. Their eyes widened at what Freddy was proposing. Then they each went to a scrambled phone. Freddy got group and immediatley demanded to speak to Parks right that moment. He came on and asked what was wrong. Freddy answered him:" I have this wild idea. Hit this raid with all 9 Squadrons at once, or as nearly as we can make it. Send in the fighters first then hit them from the rear and the top and from below. If we maul them bad enough this might end the battle." Parks was quiet. "But if we lose a large number of Typhoons, we will be in dire straits. The factory has run out of engines and will not have any more for several days at least, and then only a few. We could not replace any serious losses. And then if the Germans redouble their attacks we will be in real trouble." Freddy grimaced."That is a possibility- but even if we lost half the Typhoons there would still be enough to chew up another big raid – even if we had to move them around the various airfields. And by concentrating them now we can hurt them so bad they just might quit altogether. I believe it is a chance worth taking." Parks: "This is a big one I will have to talk to Dowding." Freddy: "OK, but I am going to get things started. If he decides not to do it, we can pull back." Parks agreed- but made it clear that she was to wait for authorization before committing the whole force. Freddy agreed then rung off.

Freddy looked at the other two- they both nodded telling her that the other groups were getting ready and would be in the air within 20 minutes. Freddy told them that Dowding would have to make the final decision, but that she was acting now as the Typhoons overall commander and starting it all in motion. She then headed to the flight line,

Williams riding with her.

There she gathered the pilots and told them what was probably going to happen. If Dowding decided NOT to committ the whole force, she would hit the raid with the 3 Squadrons here. She looked at the 8th and 9th and told them"I really wanted to take more time and give you more experience with the Typhoon before dropping you in the deep end to sink or swim, but the Germans are forcing my hand." She looked at the planes- the ground crew was doing a great job of re arming them- it would probably be done in the next 20 minutes-they had all the other ground crews helping them. She told the pilots:"Get in your planes and get ready. As soon as we are all armed we take off.

Williams had run off to his pilots to give them the word. They would take off first- since it was clear they would go in at the Germans first to draw off the fighters.

Freddy got into her plane- it was one of the first to be rearmed and refueled so it was ready to go. She sat there and thought about the possibilites- both good and bad. She knew with absolute certainty that they could catch the Germans off balance again- they would not expect a mass assault from all sides. At the most they would expect an attack by one group- not 3. And they would hit that first group with everything they had. Leaving a skeleton escort back with the bombers. That HAD to be their plan- nothing else made any sense. She turned on her radio and called operations. She then told them to see if they could scare up any more Spits for the main event. Operations told her they would check. Freddy waited. 5 minutes later they called back and said that 2 were available. Freddy then told them to coordinate with Group Commander Williams. She hopped out of her plane and ran over to Williams, who had just gotten the word. She told him that he would take the whole lot of Spits and lead the attack to take on the fighters. She intended a frontal assault from above- something that the Germans would expect and would make them think that this was the main event. The other two groups would come if from below and the rear and from above and the rear. With their fighters leading the way. He looked at her and slowly nodded. She said quietly good luck and grabbed his hand- and looked him in the eye. He squeezed it and nodded. She jumped down and headed back to her plane. There she got operations and told them that they needed to call Tangmere and tell them it was beaters first and from below and behind as the first ones went in from above and ahead; and call Manston and tell them they were to use the beaters first and hit from above and behind. Operations acknowledged. Freddy looked around and realized the ground crews had virtually worked a miracle and set a record for refuelling and rearming a whole wing. She started up her plane and saw that the spits were already moving to take off. She waited and followed, leading the Typhoons.

Freddy was on edge, Dowding still had not authorized what she set in motion. What she did not know was that Dowding happened to be in a meeting with the PM and the War Cabinet when the call from Parks came. Dowding knew he needed to fill in the PM and the cabinet. There was immediate reaction. The more aggressive members agreed, the more cautious ones objected. The PM let that go on for a few minutes and then asked Dowding what was his thoughts. Dowding quietly said that he could see both sides- but that he was in agreement with Group Captain De Lancel that the oppurtunity to land a crushing blow was very great. If they decimated this large raid, that may very well end the battle. One of the Cabinet members then objected that they could also lose a large number of at the moment irreplaceable planes, as well as very valuable pilots. If the Germans did well they could very well redouble their efforts and push all the harder.

Dowding agreed but pointed out that one must be aggressive if they wanted to ever win anything passive defense was not the answer. This allusion to France quieted the room.

The PM said: "It is your decision and I see what you want to do. Please let Group Captain De Lancel know that our prayers are with her" Dowding nodded and said"Thank you, sir"

Freddy was worried- she only had maybe 10 minutes before she had to attack if they were going to pull this off. Then her radio squawked"Freddy, the word is given. Godspeed and good luck. That is from Air Chief Marshal Dowding and the PM" Freddy's eyes widened. The PM was involved- no wonder it had taken longer then she had thought it would. She acknowleded it and switched frequencies to the common one.

"OK people. The word has been given. We will commence in 5 minutes. You all know what you have to do good luck and godspeed" Freddy then changed it to the Typhoon frequency. She waited a moment, knowing they all were going to do the same. The Spits would go to theirs. "get ready guys, the fighters will be going in in 3 minutes. We will wait 2 minutes then dive and attack. Listen to me and stick together. This will be a tough ride." She then switched to the Spit frequency. "Group Captain Williams, you will commence in 3 minutes" Williams acknowledged. Then back to the Typhoon frequency.

Freddy waited, going back over the situation. Williams had 4 squadrons with him; the Wing Commander had not yet been picked for the last group so he was doing that. Freddy was glad. They were at 19000 feet; the bombers were at 12000. A large gaggle of fighters were in front and above and they were starting to move toward the spits they had spotted above. Freddy hoped they had not spotted the Typhoons yet. She looked down at the bomber stream and could not see the other Typhoons or Spits. Good- if she could not see them, maybe the Germans couldn't, either. The raid was BIG. It looked like 400, evenly split between bombers and fighters. Then Williams commenced his dive. Freddy had to force herself not to follow. She deliberately counted out loud to 120 before she ordered" Typhoons, dive NOW at 500 mph and hold it. " Pushing the throttle to maximum, down she went. They were going much faster then the Spits- the reason she had to wait as long as she did. She watched as the Germans met the attack, She winced as she saw explosions, knowing that some of them were Spits. But they had done a great job- there was a clear hole through the escorts to the bomber stream. Keying her mic, she ordered the group to stay tight; " Ready people,steady, …..take aim….FIRE! 198 rockets screamed for their targets. Explosions tore through the formation, shredding at least a dozen and maybe more; and damaging many others. Parts of it came apart. Freddy then orderd a burst of 20's and 2 37's and that blew up and damaged more.

Then picking a gap in the rapidly disentegrating formation Freddy led them through – feeling lucky there was a gap that big- she hoped big enough for everyone to get through. She listened for any signs of trouble and did not hear any. Then they were through and THEN they were being confronted by fighters that had been below climbing towards them. Freddy ordered another burst of 20's and 2 37's. She almost absently noted that she got one fighter cleanly and and at least damaged another badly. But she also heard " I 'm hit from two different voices" She gritted her teeth and bore on through. LUCKILY at the speed they were traveling the germans only got a quick shot in at them; and while they were trying to turn to pursue they had no chance. Freddy then ordered a turn of 90 degrees as she saw the next group of typhoons coming up and were about to fire at the stream; and as she made the turn she saw the firing of rockets from above. The top group were firing now; and the bottom group were about to fire. She was glad to get her people away.

Freddy took stock as she ordered them to level out at 4000 ft and regroup. She orderd the SL's to make a count and report back to her. She then changed frequencies and called Williams. He quickly answered her by telling her he had regrouped and were at 10000 off to the right and below the bombers. He reported that he had taken only light losses, relatively speaking. Freddy winced at that. She asked him what the bomber stream looked like. He told her:" There is no stream now- they are scattered and fragmented to hell and gone. Most have turned back and the relatively few that had not were now turning and jettisoning their bombs. The other two groups of typhoons had tore large chunks out of them; and the Spits had not done too badly either. This attack was over. Freddy closed her eyes for a moment and gave a prayer of thanks. She acknowledged him and told him to head for home- she would be along in a while. She changed back to the Typhoon channel and waited for the report. 4 typhoons were missing from her group; 2more had been damaged and were already heading home. They had reports of at least 2 parachutes.

Freddy sighed and acknowledged them. She then called for the other two Wing Commanders to report in. Both came back with good news; while 2 from Tangmere and 1 from Manston had been downed, all 3 had been seen to bail out with open chutes. A total of 4 others damaged had headed for the nearest field- Biggin. Freddy sighed with relief. While that was more casualties then they had ever taken before, the losses of pilots and planes were acceptable considering the damage they had caused.

Freddy ordered everyone to head for their home base, and did the same.

Frreddy landed at Kenley, noting as she did the damaged Spits that had come home, and 2 Typhoons as well. Then she looked farther down the field and saw 2more Typhoons at the very end, sitting and smoking BUT intact. She was too scared to hope that that meant that she had not lost anyone. Landing and immediately asking the ground crew chief that was waiting for her, he told her that one of the pilots was slightly wounded, but all the others were fine. Freddy sighed in relief. She felt almost giddy. Her great gamble had paid off. She got our of her plane and found the Group Captains car waiting for her. She climbed in and sat back as it whisked her to operations and debriefing. There she found the Group captain waiting with a huge smile on his face.

She wearily nodded to him and sat down to be debriefed. She was credited with 4 more, bringing her total to 45. Her Group was credited with 17 bombers and 6 fighters destroyed, with 8 bombers and 2 fighters damaged. She was told that those numbers were preliminary, and almost certainly would be raised. The numbers and info from the other two bases were not in yet. Her losses were 2 planes lost, 4 damaged but repairable; 4 others minor damage that already were repaired. The spits had had a somewhat tougher time of it. 6 lost, with 3 pilots saved. 8 others damaged, several probably seriously or totaled. But they had knocked down 8 bombers, and 10 fighters, with another 4 bombers and 5 fighters damaged. Freddy slowly moved towards her desk and sat down. So they had just about maintained a 4-1 kill ratio; not as good as in the past but from what she knew now the other two groups had really scored high and that made the difference.

The Group Captain walked in and handed Freddy a sheet of paper. It had the preliminary counts from the other two bases. 4 planes had been lost and 4 damaged, but repairable. No pilots seriously injured. So the total Typhoon losses had been 6 lost planes, no pilots, and 8 damaged but repairable. Out of a total of 147, 6 losses. Then she looked at the claims and her mouth dropped open. 58 bombers destroyed, with 22 damaged. 8 fighters destroyed, with 5 damaged. The other spits had lost 10 planes, with 5 pilots saved; 5 more damaged. But they had taken down 23 fighters, with 11 damaged; and 18 bombers, with 9 damaged. So the totals came to: 101 bombers downed; 43 damaged. 48 fighters destroyed; with 23 damaged. 149 down with 66 damaged VS 22 destroyed and 17 damaged. 215 to 39. 5.5 to 1 Good enough, thought Freddy. Especially since it was 7 to 1 in destroyed.

At fighter command Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding looked at the numbers and shook his head in awe. Freddy had done it: this was as crushing a defeat as you could wish for. Almost 60 of the whole formation had been destroyed or damaged. And he knew the destroyed number was going to go up. Already word from air sea rescue had counted more then a dozen going down in the channel, and reports of at least half a dozen crashed on the ground leading from the site of the battle back towards the channel. He picked up the phone to call the PM. " Sir, I have the preliminary numbers now. A total of 149 destroyed and 66 damaged, and the destroyed figure will grow by at least 12 to 18. We lost 22 planes and only 8 pilots with another 17 damaged, most of them repairable.

Yes sir. We lost 6 Typhoons with no pilots seriously injured. 4 typhoons damaged but repairable. Yes sir. I believe, sir, coming after all the other losses they have had over the last 10 days, that unless they are even more stubborn then I ever thought they were, that this should end it. Group Captain De Lancel's personal total is at 45. I will have to ask the staff to check for that total for the typhoons sir. I will get back to you with that. Thank you sir- but we really owe this more to one extraordinary young woman then any other single person. Yes Sir. Well sir, considering she already has the DFC, the DSC and the VC, any other award pales. Sir another VC really is questionable even considering what she has done; everything since that first battle has come as part of her duty. Even though today was totally her idea, it can still be called part of her duty. Yes sir, that may be a more appropriate acknowledgement. Yes sir. Goodbye sir"

Freddy sat back at her desk and sighed. PAPERWORK. UGH. Well, at least it was almost done. It was almost noon – she had come in after the debriefing and started on the paper work. Time to get something to eat. She went looking for Williams, did no t see him, so went to the mess hall and found him at a table in the corner. She got something and joined him. She reminded him that a fair amount of paperwork was waiting for him.

He just grinned at her. She glared at him. He winked at her- and she blushed- then glared again. Then she relaxed and smiled at him- and he blushed.

"Sir, I have those numbers for you. The Typhoons are credited with 415 destroyed and 133 damaged. That is one third of the entire total for Fighter Command. Yes sir and this has all happened in the last 12 days. Yes sir. No question but they were the critical factor. Sir since this morning there has been virtually no activity. That is very unusual. As a matter of fact since the campaign started this is more quiet then it has been when the weather was this good. At the very least they must be weighing the decision. They have lost over 1200 planes sir- almost half the force they started with. And virtually all those pilots and crews are dead or captured. This must be at a critical level for them- I really would not be able to justify continuing it if it were my decision. They have lost each battle for the last 3 days, and most of them for the last 10. Yes Sir. Thank You sir. If I find out they are coming again I will let you know. There still is time today for two raids at least. Good bye sir."

Freddy headed back with Williams to operations. She had decided to give the pilots the rest of the day off- that morning had been very intense and she felt that drilling them now would not be the best thing. She had held a critique after they had been debriefed and felt that that was enough for the time being. Stopping at the big board, she realized that somethig was wrong. Looking harder she saw what it was- or more to the point what it wasn't. There was no activity on the French side at all. NOTHING. She could not remember a time during the day for the last 12, except for the two rain days, when there had been NOTHING on the board. She went over to where the Group Captain was standing and motioned with her head towards the board. He said" I know- since the battle began back in the middle of July it has not been this quiet when the weather was good. There is nothing at all, not even any recon. No one wants to say it in fear that it will jinx us but…." Freddy looked down at the board and then up at him and her eyes widened. Then she closed her eyes and said" I am not going to say a thing" Then opened them and nodded to the Group Captain and went back to her desk to finish the paperwork. A call about a half hour later came in from the factory; they had cadged enough engines and parts to replace the 6 planes that had been lost, but that was it for several more days at least. Freddy thanked them and told them the pilots would be right down in the next two hours to pick them up. Freddy then called down to the flight line and let them know that the pilots without planes needed to report to operations. She was able to arrange for a truck to take them to the factory. She sent them off to get the planes with the admonishment to be carefull. They grinned at her and were off. Williams had come in to work on his paperwork at last and Freddy finished hers. Then she went down to operations again and looked at the board. It was 1530, still plenty of time to launch another raid, more then enough for recon; but it was still empty.

Sir, it is still completely quiet. This has not happened in good weather since the middle of July. The forecast is for good weather for at least the next 4-5 days. Probably longer.

They cannot afford to throw away good days like this. Even when they took heavy losses before they were still doing harrassment raids and recon. I think it could be critically important. But I must caution that they might be making plans and trying to lull us into complacency. Frankly I don't think so, sir. But we have to be carefull. Yes Sir. Goodbye"

Freddy actually found herself with nothing to do. All her paperwork was done; the new Wing Commander was not due in till tomorrow. She had already given the pilots the rest of the day off; and the board was still empty. She was afraid to think of what that might mean. So she deliberatley chose NOT to think about it. She went in search of Williams and found that he had also finished his paperwork and was at a loose end. It was 1800 and she decided that a little better dinner was in order. Grabbing him, she found her car and driver and told him to take them to the little restaurant/pub that she remembered.

It was a Friday night and much more busy then it was the other night, but the manager got them a table right away. Freddy determinedly ignored the looks she got as she walked to the table. She had told the driver to give them 2 hrs. It turned out that that was not really enough. After a very good meal, and almost having to force the manager to let them pay for it, Williams suggested a game of darts. Freddy thought that charming, and agreed. They had to wait their turn, but it was fun. The locals, almost exclusively farmers, made it a point to leave them alone and not ask about the war, etc. Freddy's competitive nature came to the fore and they opposed the local champ. They lost, but made it close. By the time the driver showed up, they had been having a great time. Freddy left with great reluctance.

As usual, Freddy woke at 0530. She laid there for a minute, then, groaning, got up and took a shower and tried to wake up. By 0600 she was in the mess hall, getting breakfast. She was a little surprised that Williams was not up yet, apparently. Oh, well. The Group Captain was and they talked a little. Both wondering if the quiet time would continue. Freddy decided to roust the pilots and get them going on some practice and drills. The Group Captain promised to let her know if something showed up on the board. For the next hour and a half Freddy drilled and grilled them, then had them fire at the range. By 0800 she was back down and after a critique, she headed to operations. There she found Williams and the Group Captain looking at the board- still nothing. They all looked at each other- no one wanting to say anything in fear of jinxing it. Freddy then was told that the new Wing Commander would be arriving at the factory in about 2 hrs. Freddy decided to head that way- the factory was scrounging and working at getting a Typhoon ready for him. So she jumped in her Typhoon and took off.

She got to the factory and found that they had just managed to get a Typhoon ready. She looked it over and decided to give it a test flight. After half an hour of putting it through its paces, she landed and told the factory rep that it was a good one and signed the paperwork accepting it on behalf of the government. Then the Wing Commander arrived. He did not seem all that happy about having a commanding officer that was a woman and much younger then he was, but upon seeing her Typhoon with the 45 german flags painted on the side, his eyes bugged out. After that he was much more respectful.

Freddy spent the next several hours briefing him, then taking him up and drilling and grilling him; then firing at the range. After a call to Kenley (still no activity) they headed that way. Landing at Kenley, Freddy introduced him to his group, now formally the 3rd Typhoon Group. Letting him take it from there, she headed to operations. Looking at the board, and still seeing no activity, Freddy decided to make a call. She called Group and asked if they had any more news; Parks came on the phone and told her that everyone was becoming of the same mind: the Germans had quit. Freddy looked at the clock; it was almost noon. With the weather good there was no reason for the total lack of activity. Not even recon was going on. Parks then told her that if nothing showed up she was to come in for a meeting at 1800 at fighter command. Freddy acknowledged that and rang off. She looked at the Group Captain and Williams and told them what Parks had said. They said nothing; what was there to say? Freddy then decided to call Tangmere and Manston and talk to the Wing Commanders there. And to let them know what she had heard, but to tell them not to inform the pilots of this just yet. She did not want them to get their hopes up. Freddy then decided to go the the barracks and rest up and take a hot bath. At 1700 she called for her car and headed out.

The meeting at Fighter Command HQ was with Parks, Dowding and the Air Staff. A further surprise was that there would be another meeting in an hour with the PM and the War Cabinet. The first meeting consisted of everyone wondering if this was it. A recon over the invasion fleet had noticed no change the previous day; but today it was noted that no more barges or tugs had been brought forward; no more trucks were bringing suppplies or equipment to the area. BUT there were also no indications yet that they were taking anything AWAY either. However, with the total lack of air activity, coupled with the fact that days of expected good weather were rapidly dwindling, it was difficult to come to any other conclusion then that the Germans had up and quit. The meeting ended with Dowding asking Parks and Freddy to stay behind. He told them that the PM wished to see the both of them at the next meeting. Parks and Freddy looked at each other and shrugged. They then headed down the stairs to Dowdings official car and proceeded to #10 Downing Street.

The meeting with the PM and the War Cabinet was fairly quiet. The PM informed them that intelligence was of the opinion that Hitler had postponed the invasion, but that for all intents and purpsoes considered it canceled. They should see the breaking up of the invasion fleet and the movement of troops and material away from the ports in the next few days. The intelligence staff were of the opinion night time raids and harrassment and anti shipping attacks would restart, but that there would be little if any daytime activity. The PM then congratulated Dowding on his leadership, and Parks on his expert guidance of 11 Group. Then he looked at Freddy and said:"And to Group Captain De Lancel, I give the thanks of His Majesty and a gratefull nation, for it cannot be argued that your contribution was not critical. You and your Typhoons turned the tide, generating a great wind that blew the evil away from the British Isles, and have brought us one more step closer to ultimate victory" Freddy blushed furiously, much to the amusement of the 3 men. The PM then said" A more tangible thank you from his majesty will be given to all three of you in 3 days at Buckingham Palace. Be sure you have your dress uniforms cleaned and your shoes and swords polished; it will be a big day." Freddy blanched and looked worried. Much to their further amusement.

Freddy was at a loss at what to do after she got back to Kenley. Her father had left to go to a major French camp in the North of Scotland, and would not be back for several days. She had left a message with his assistant at Free French HQ that she was being presented with SOMETHING at Buckingham Palace and she would love to have him there. The French officer she spoke to promised to make sure he got the message that day. The next day Freddy slept in till 0630, then took a leisurely shower and went to eat breakfast. At 0800 she checked in at ops and once again was told that there was no activity. She went to the flight line and decided to grill the pilots, but not to fire weapons. Instead she talked to Williams, who was at just at lose an end, and proposed taking his spits up and working with the Typhoons. They then took up both groups and manuevered and drilled and had the Typhoons try and avoid Spits attacking them, working in sections rather then as squadrons. Freddy felt that that would drive home to the Typhoon pilots that they never had any business trying to dogfight. After almost 2 hrs of that, they landed. After a critique, she let them go with the admonishment to stay on base just in case. She talked to the Wing Commander, who had some good ideas on how to train the pilots for other kinds of attacks against shipping and ground targets. She told him that he would be responsible for their training from that point on. She then called Tangmere and Manston and was pleased to find that the Wing Commanders there had also been drilling and grilling the groups. She then called Group and asked to talk to Parks. When he came on line, she asked him to see what they would be doing next, if it indeed turned out, as by now pretty much everyone agreed, that the battle was over.

He told Freddy that basically the thinking was that they might be sent to the Middle East to help out there. The Italians were apparently getting frisky and might try something.

The Typhoons after all had been built with the idea of being ground support; or maybe helping out Coastal Command by attacking German Eboats and the such. But that that decision would be up to the Air Staff and Dowding and the Chief of the RAF. Freddy asked that it be considered to send them as a group then to where ever. She really wanted to keep them together and work as a concentrated weapon. Parks agreed that that would be a good idea, but that with the battle probably being over, other concerns would over ride Fighter Commands influence. Freddy's typhoons had proven to be a great weapon, and other areas would be clamoring for them. Freddy quietly acknowledged that and rang off.

That phone call gave Freddy a great deal of food for thought. She knew that while no one could take away what she had accomplished, as time went by her influence and ability to influence things would fade. Those that were against women in combat would try and stick her somewhere where she would be forgotten. She knew that she had to do something to insure that that did not happen. She tried to think of possibilities. Coastal Command was even more hidebound then the Regular RAF,so she doubted that she would be all that welcome there; besides, attacking ports trying to damage the German light boats would be hard work, with relatively little return. Their heavy AA batteries would take a severe toll of planes that had to get close to fire. Fighter sweeps in France would be little better; not like they could really do all that much damage. They would have no ability to help the navy with the Uboat problem; they stayed submerged mostly during the day. And the facilities they were building in France were bombproof except for the largest of bombs. The Typhoon could drop a 1000lb bomb, but the sub pens were 20 ft thick concrete, which would ignore bombs of that size. Freddy smiled to herself; in the weeks that she had been ferrying planes, she had managed to find out a great deal about things in most parts of the English fighting commands and what they faced. Pilots talked to pilots, even women pilots, and she had always been nosy. The more she thought about it, the more she decided that the Middle East was the best place to make a difference. Now she had to figure a way to get her group there. With her in command.

Freddy then called Fighter Command HQ and asked for a meeting with Dowding. She was then told that he could see her at 1800 that evening. Freddy looked at her watch; it was only 1300. She went and found Williams and dragged him to lunch. Not that much dragging was involved. They then spent a leisurely afternoon talking and getting to know each other better. Freddy discussed with him her idea for her Typhoons. He thought that she probably had it right as regards the best use of them, but was not happy seeing her leave England for the Middle East. She then tweaked him to ask for a transfer there; they were going to need Spits as well if things brewed up there. He looked at her and slowly nodded.

Freddy ate dinner with Williams and then got ready for the meeting. Calling her driver in at 1730, she headed out. She was glad of the warm welcome she got at Fighter Command HQ; that was something. Dowding met her in his office. He looked at her and said" I can guess what you want to say. You want to keep your people together and go somewhere they can make a difference." He smiled at her look of surprise. "Parks called me and let me know what you asked. When you called for a meeting, it was not hard to figure out what it was about. I have been looking into it and have come to the conclusion that the middle east is your best bet. It does look like the Italians will be trying something and we will be responding. Ground support will be very important there, and the Typhoons are the best planes available for that duty. Now of course that goes beyond my influence, so your meeting here is merely a formality. It needs to be raised to the level of the Air Staff and the CG. And the war cabinet. I can send the proposal up, but you need more support then I can give. Since you will be meeting the PM as part of the Royal Presentation, I would raise it with him- he can be very persuasive." They both smiled at that. Churchill that day in the House of Commons had given a great speech on the clear triumph of the RAF. "Never in the course of Human conflict have so many owed so much to so Few" The RAF fighter command from that point on would be known as the FEW. Freddy said:" I am realistic to know that gratitude does not last long and that I need to use what influence I have now before it fades away." Dowding nodded, soberly. He told her that while she had to be quiet about this, it had been proposed by the Air Staff that he be retired. Freddy got mad but he held up his hand. "I have never been one to play politics and curry favor- that is one of the reasons I have the nickname 'Stuffy'. So I do not exactly have a lot of support. Even though Fighter Command just won a major battle, gratitude is something that is very transitory. And there will always be those that claim someone else could have done a better job. At any rate, I doubt the PM will sign off on that now; but it will probably come, sooner or later. War is after all a young mans provence. I am going to do all I can to see that Parks is sent to the Middle East as well- the tasks there would suit him well. And you would have a friend in your corner." Freddy thanked him and told him that she would make very sure that the PM got her drift on that pile of horse manure about retiring him. Dowding thanked her but told her not to put in jeopardy her plans- the Air Staff had a lot of power and she should not get on their bad side if she could help it. Freddy agreed that she had to watch it but she would also not stay quiet. He smiled at her and wished her well.

Freddy headed back to Kenley, arriving at 2000. She then turned in for a good nights sleep. At 0700 the next morning she was up and getting ready for the day. She would be leaving early that afternoon to go to London to prepare for the Presentation the next day.

She still had no idea what was coming her way- Dowding had just smiled at her when she asked. She decided to talk to the Wing Commanders about her plans for the Group; they could then start training with the Middle East in mind and ground support in particular.

Freddy basically just puttered around after talking to the Wing Commanders; she took a bath and got out her dress uniform; checking to make sure it was ok. Then she called her car and went to London. She was staying at the Clairton again. When she got in she found a message waiting for her from her Father. He would be over at 1800 to pick her up for dinner at the Free French HQ. Freddy smiled at that.

When her father arrived, he was shown up to her suite (which was pretty posh, she thought). She was startled to see that he was in full dress uniform, and she had to quickly change into hers- luckily it was out and ready. As they got into his car, Freddy asked who was going to be there. Her Father smiled and said a few friends of his and some other Free French personell. Freddy was glad that it seemed to be a fairly relaxed dinner in store for her. Though she wondered why her father had wanted her to wear her dress uniform. Freddy found out when she arrived at FF HQ. Lined up was an honor guard that her father escorted her through. Inside stood General De Gaule and his entire senior staff. Freddy was embarased when the General gave her the formal greeting, and then turned to the officer standing next to her, and presented her with the Croix de Guerre. He then offered his arm and escorted her into the grand ballroom of the Hotel that was their HQ. Inside was a very impressive number of high officials from many allied governments. She was seated to the right of General De Gaule, with her father on her left. She was able to relax somewhat- she had been raised in a French family and so that part was easy. The General then asked her what was her next assignment. Freddy hesitated for a moment, then decided why not? And told the General of her plans for her group. And that she might have to fight the Air Staff to get it done. The General nodded, and said that in all likliehood it was true that the Middle East would start to see action. There were several Free French garrisons, and they were trying all the time to convince more to come over. He father was going to be sent there in the next few months to facilitate that process, so she would indeed have family, at least on the same continent.

Freddy smiled at that, and said that with this war that was more then most French fighters for freedom had. The General smiled at that, and raised his wine glass in a quiet toast.

Freddy found the dinner actually quite enjoyable. Afterwards, though, it was not so much so. She felt she was like a prized thouroughbred on display. She did not realize just how impressive she did look, with the Purple ribbon, plus the DSC and DFC, with the Croix de Guerre around her neck. Finally, the evening ended with her and her father heading back to her hotel. He apologized for not warning her, feeling that she was better off not worrying about it beforehand. She tweaked him for that, but told him she had had a pretty good time. He asked her about her plans for her group, and she told him that she felt she had a good shot at pulling it off, and intended to enlist the PM in her effort at the Presentation the next day. He wished her luck, kissed her cheek, and told her he would be there the next morning at 0900 to take her to Buckingham Palace.

Freddy slept in the next morning till 0730, then took a nice bath, before getting dressed. Her father was there promptly at 0855, and they went down to eat breakfast first before heading out to Palace- she was not due to be there untill 1030. Freddy still did not know exactly what was planned for her there- no one would tell her that knew. Arriving at the Palace, Freddy and her father were whisked to an office where she met a member of the Palace staff who was to tell her what she needed to do – and NOT do- during the presentation. Freddy thought that FINALLY she would find out what was going to happen- but once again she was frustrated. The palace minion told her that he had no idea. Freddy grumbled that it was a conspiracy. Her fathered laughed at that and admitted that he had no idea either. Freddy felt a little better at that- at least her father was not in on it. Then she was led down to what was called the Throne Room where it all would happen. There she was placed next to Parks and Dowding, while her father was escorted off to the side where the audience was. A few minutes passed and then the PM came into the room. He walked up to Dowding and shook his hand, then Parks, then proceeded to kiss Freddy's hand, which made her blush and him twinkle. He then asked Dowding what plans they had for Freddy and her Typhoons now. Dowding looked at Freddy and said "I have recommended to the Air Staff that the Typhoons and their commanding officer be sent to the middle east, where I believe they will be of the most use there." The PM looked thoughtfull, then looked at Freddy who nodded and said" I am completely in favor of that, and I am hoping that they send Air Vice Marshall Parks as the overall Fighter Chief." Parks looked a little surprised at that, but cheerfull. The PM nodded and said" Sounds like a good plan to me. I will tell the War cabinet that that has my approval." Freddy grinned cheekily at him and said" I figured to try and use what influence I had as long as I had it." The PM smiled and said "I can see you will go a long way, Miss De Lancel; you have the knack of striking when the iron is hot." At that moment the Palace MOC walked in the room and announced" His royal Highness, George 6, King of england and Emperor of the British Empire" They all came to rigid attention as the King walked into the room and sat in his throne.

Afterwards Freddy would look back on that event feeling as if it happened to someone else. Dowding was made a Knight Commander of the Bath; Parks was made a Knight of the Bath, and so was Freddy- the King informed her that since she was first woman to lead Britons into battle since Queen Boadicia, that they felt that it was appropriate that she become the first Woman Knight of the Bath. Freddy managed to thank him faintly, and not screw up when she kneeled before him, and he Knighted her. From that point on she was Sir Frederica De Lancel. Afterwards she was congratulated by many, and forced to stand and have her picture taken by the press, who went wild about her. Freddy was told by a Air Ministry staffer that she would have to grant a few interviews, since the press had been beseiging the minitstry for days. Freddy grimaced but acknowldedged the need.

The press interview was not actually that bad. She was able to keep from putting her foot in her mouth. She was able to find out that one of themost crustiest and senior reporters was a supporter of Dowding- so she was able to answer one of her questions with an aside that she had heard that some wanted to force Dowding to retire. The wink that got her from the reporter told her that would help. The other questions she was able to avoid due to not giving away info to the enemy. Though she made it a point to thank Dowding and Parks for their very risky support for her. She hopped to continue fighting and flying and not get stuck behind a desk. And she said that while the Typhoons had been very lucky in not losing anyone, the Spits that had fought to get them close to the bombers had not been so fortunate. When asked about the already famous PM quote about the Few, she said that she took greater pleasure at that then any of the awards and medals she had. We will always be that band of brothers (and she winked, a sister as well- to the laughter of the reporters) who stood up and turned away a great tide of evil at a critical point in history.

Freddy spent the rest of the day with her father, seeing the sights of London from the car, then going back to the Clairton for dinner. After her father left, Freddy took off her uniform at last and staired at it- amazed at the events of the last 2 weeks. She then took a long bath and went to sleep. The next morning she bought a couple of newspapers to see what they had to say, before she called her car to take her back to Kenley. She was gratified that the writeups seemed pretty fair- and that her talk about the rumors of Dowdings forced retirement had made every column, and had inspired several to comment that they hoped the ministry had more sense then that. The Editorial in the London Times was very explicit in that those that wanted to retire Dowding should themselves be shown the door. Freddy smiled evilly at that.

In his office, Dowding was reading the same editorial. Freddy, he thought, you should not have done it but I thank you. His phone rang and he answered it. It was the PM. " I can see that Freddy did a good job of putting the screws to those in the Air Ministry that wanted you out- of course some of the War cabinet felt the same way, but after this they will have to keep their mouths shut. I have already heard from several senior members of Parliament, and the House of Lords, that they would be very unhappy if that happened. I think I can safely say that no attempt will be made for quite some time. By the way, I have already informed the war Cabinet that Sir Frederica De Lancel will be taking the entire Typhoon Group to the middle east to bolster our Air forces there, and that the new Air Vice Marshal for Fighters in the Middle East will be Sir Keith Parks. There were no

objections voiced, thought I imagine some on the Air Staff and in the Air Ministry will not be happy. I fully intend to see that your promotion to Chief of the Raf comes in December when sir Crowe retires. I will need your recomendation for your replacement." Dowding nodded. " I will have it within the week, sir" The PM then rang off. Dowding then called Kenley and got Freddy on the phone. "Well, your effort to prevent my forced retirement has paid off. The PM just called and let me know that it has been effectively torpedoed. Freddy, you must watch yourself. You have enemies now, who will look for every oppurtunity to do you mischief. Be very carefull that you do not give then any ammunition. Heroes are always targets. But you also got your wish- the entire group with you as commander will be assigned to the Middle East - and Parks will be overall Fighter Commander. Congratulations and good luck. The move will probably occurr within the next few weeks. Details will have to be worked out- I do not know if even with extra tanks the Typhoons can make it to Gibralter. Then Malta. Then Cairo. They might have to be shipped by freighter."

Freddy put down the phone, and thought hard. She needed to check into that. NO way did she want to have her Typhoons loaded on a freighter that could get sunk. She went into operations and found the Group Captain. She explained the situation and asked for info on distances. He went into his office and pulled out a book that had those distances from RAF bases in it. They looked at the numbers. Gibralter would be ok, Freddy thought, thinking back to the numbers on the Typhoon with a fuel tank. Malta to Cairo was not that far. Gibralter to Malta- that was ok as well. Relieved, Freddy called the factory and asked what info they had on drop tanks. The factory rep replied that they had several dozen already there, and that more were on the way. He thought they would have enough in about 2 weeks. Freddy thanked him and then considered the munitions and ground crew. What they needed was 4-5 transport aircraft. She called Group and got ahold of Parks. She reported what she had found. He agreed that that looked promising, and that he would talk to some people at the Air Ministry about it. He also congratulated her on spiking the guns of the anti-Dowding faction. Freddy said that she was glad to do it, and that she had to remember that not all the enemy was German. Parks chuckled at that and rung off. Freddy then called in the Wing Commander, and let him know. She then called Manston and Tangmere and talked to the WC's there and let them know. She cautioned them all to not tell the pilots yet.

The next day Freddy received the formal orders from the Air Ministry informing her the the 1st Typhoon Group, with her as commander, was being transferred to the Middle east, specifically RAF Cairo, as of 15 Oct. She was directed to expedite. Freddy sat back and decided that now they could tell the pilots. She picked up the phone and called Tangmere and Manston and talked to the WC's there. She then called down to the flight line and told the crew chief to get out the word. Freddy then went down there and let them know. She explained why they were going. Not everyone was happy to leave England for the hot, dusty and sandy Middle East but that was where the work would probably be so that was that. She told them to get ready by starting to hit the Base Dispensary and start getting their vacinations. Then look at completing their kits for Middle East duty. She looked at the ground crew that had gathered nearby and she told them that they were getting a treat by being sent to the middle east with them. They groaned mightily at that as she smiled evilly. She then went over to the ground crew chief and asked him to start looking at just how many spare parts he could cadge and to get all they could. She pointed out that the factory would be thousands of miles away by ship when they were in the middle east. He nodded and said he would get right onto it.

Freddy then went into operations and called the factory. She got the rep and quietly told him they would be going overseas and that they would need all the spare parts they could get. He told her they would start working on it.

For the next week Freddy was busy getting the move organized. The Typhoons would travel with a full load of 20's but no rockets or 37 mm shells. Weight meant fuel and Freddy wanted to have some extra just in case. It was decided that they would travel in concert with the transports carrying the ground crews and spare parts. The munitions would follow aboard ships, though Freddy was determined to have some brought with them on the planes. No telling when or even if the freighter would get to Cairo.

Parks had already left for the Middle east to get things started. She had one more meeting with Dowding and was able to get another two transports assigned to carry munitions- since she had made the point that there were no rockets in the Middle East. Luckily since the Army had 37MM guns shells would not be a problem. 20's were also not a problem since some ships were starting to carry 20's and so there was a good supply at Alexandria. So they were able to load 440 rockets on each plane. That was just enough for one mission. But beggars cannot be choosers, Freddy thought.

After a last dinner with her father, who would be going to the Middle East himself in December, she got the Group ready for the trip. She had drilled them in navigation just in case they lost sight of the group. The ground crew went over each Typhoon with a fine toothed comb to have them as ready as possible. She had them practice taking off and landing with a full load of fuel and a drop tank. She got more good news when she found out that Williams was being transferred there as well to take over as group captain of the fighters in Cairo. That made her very happy. They had danced around their feelings a little, Freddy still grieving some for Mac; Williams a little uncertain of how to act around her because of that. But they both knew.

The day they were to leave dawned bright and sunny. The weather report to Gibralter looked good. The other two groups would take off and they would all rendezvous over Tangmere. Freddy once again stressed the need for everyone to stay in at least a loose formation and to keep their eyes open. As Freddy taxied her Typhoon towards the runway, she was startled to see a large number of the personell at Kenley standing along the way and cheering. She had her canopy open- and she waved to them as she took off, leading the way. She circled the field untill the rest of the group and the 6 transports took off. Then they formed up and headed out. Cruising at 180 mph was kind of slow for them, but that was the max cruising speed for the transports. They followed them slightly above. Down to Tangmere where the other 2 groups were circling; and off they went skiriting the French coast and slowly around that to the Spanish Coast, then the Portugese coast. Almost 6 hours passed as they got close to Gibralter. Once within sight, Freddy called in to get permission to land the Typhoons first, as they were getting low on fuel. Permission was granted. After landing Freddy had the ground crews check the Typhoons and make sure they were ok. There were cots set up in one of the hangers for the night. Their group was really crowding Gibralters air field, which was not that big. Freddy met the airbase Commander, who offered her and the Wing Commanders quarters in the main barracks. Freddy thanked him, but declined – they would stay with their pilots and ground crews. She then asked for the weather and he said that there were no storms in sight. She thanked him and then went to the hanger. It was only 1500, so she told the pilots to relax but behave themselves. Freddy decided to just sit back and read a book she had brought with her. Dinner that night was interesting. After a good meal at the base mess hall the Base Commander had asked her to talk about the battle with his staff. She then gave them all she knew. They asked a lot of questions, and hinted that having a couple of squadrons of Typhoons would be a good thing for Gibrlalter. She smiled and told them that she would forward the request to the Air Ministry- and maybe in 6 months or so they just might get a few. They laughed at that and agreed, under no illusion about the Air Ministry.

Next morning they were off to Malta. That was a shorter trip and it had been decided to just quickly refuel and head the rest of the way to Cairo. Italian harrassment of Malta had been inconsistent, but they never knew. The transports would not need to refuel but would land as no one wanted them to fly any farther without escort. So Freddy got them in and out as fast as she could. Unfortunately the main fuel bowser broke down and it slowed everything down to a crawl. Freddy finally had to tell the field commander that they would have to wait untill the next morning as they no longer had time to make it to Cairo. Malta was hot and dry and no one got much sleep. So it was a tired crew that flew out the next morning. Luckily the Italians had not paid them a visit. It took only 4 hours to get to Cairo, and so that was not so bad. Landing at the field, Freddy was exhausted as she climbed out of the Typhoon. She found Parks waiting for her. She walked up to him and smiled cheekily, after saluting, "And how is Sir Keith doing, might I ask?" He grinned at her and said" Hopefully better then Sir Frederica is doing" and they both laughed. He then intoduced her to his staff, while they headed into Operations. It looked a lot like the ones in england, so Freddy felt right at home. In his office, Freddy was offered a cool drink of water and a chair. She took the water, but said since she had spent so much time sitting, she preferred to stand for a bit. Parks laughed and admitted he had felt the same when he had arrived 2 weeks earlier. He then sobered some and told Freddy that it looked like there would be trouble soon if intelligence was correct. He was glad that Williams was getting there next week, since he was NOT impressed by the current fighter leadership. Also, they were low on good planes- all they had were mark 1 Spits and not many of them, and a handfull of Hurricanes. The Italians were not thought to be much in the air, but one never knew. He was much happier that Freddy was here, since they would be needed. The Italians had them outnumbered almost 5-1. Freddy was told that she would be meeting the Commander, Middle East, general O'Connor the next day. He told her that they had arranged quarters in the main compound for her, in the same building as his.

Freddy was very impressed by General O'Connor, less impressed with his staff. Interestingly, the RAF commander, an Air Vice Marshal senior to Parks, had gotten sick and was being invalided back to England, so Parks was now RAF commander. That suited Freddy quite well. There were only 2 quadrons of Manchester bombers in Cairo, 2 squadrons of Mark 1 Spits, and 1 Squadron of Hurricanes. New Spits were on their way, and the force was due to be beefed up quite soon with 2 more Squadrons of Manchesters, and 4 more squadrons of Spits. But at the moment Freddy in actuallity commanded the most modern and powerfull force the RAF had. And General O'Connor was very aware of that. He had been making plans to attack the Italians and his only real shortcoming was in the air. He was completely confident he could beat them on the ground, but at that timethe Italians had 3 times the number of aircraft he had. With Freddy's arrival, that was now almost even. His plans called for the RAF to strike at dawn and destroy most of the Italian air on the ground, then support his attacks with close in aerial strikes at the Italians supply lines. "One thing that is clear in the desert, he told her, is that supply is everything. Whichever side keeps their supplies flowing has a huge advantage. I intend to show that in my assault." Freddy looked at the plans outlined on the map on the main operations table. It was basically a war of maneuver, with the British using speed and striking power to overcome the Italians numbers. She plotted the sites of the main Italian airfields- most of them were within Typhoon range, except for those at The border Of Libya and Morroco. She looked up at General O'Connor. "We can take out all those fields here and here and here in one strike- we can put one Wing on each and pretty much destroy every aircraft there. This area is out of range and will have to be hit by the Manchesters. As long as we catch them by surprise, I can virtually guarantee that you will have no worries in the air by 0800 that morning." The general nodded, seemingly unfazed by Freddy's nonchalant optimism. "When can your group be ready for combat?"

Freddy frowned for a moment. "we need to check on how the Typhoon engine reacts to this climate- that will take a day or two to figure out the proper fuel settings. We will have to rig additional air filters due to the dust and sand. But other then that we are ready now. I would say that in 4 days we could be ready." The general nodded again' " Good. I intend to attack in one week." His staff were caught be surprise. He said:"the italians know I am being reinforced by air. Right now they are not ready for a fight. I do not want them raising their level of alert. So time is of the essence".

Afteer that meeting, Freddy met with Parks and his staff. She looked at the available intelligence on the Italians air forces and asked if there had benn any recent recons. The answer was no. She looked at Parks and he told her that one was scheduled for the next day. All italian air fields would be covered. Freddy nodded. She said"As long as we catch them by surprise this operation should be a piece of cake" After the meeting Freddy had one of her own with the Wing Commanders. She showed them the maps and

Told them to prepare plans for the attacks on each. As soon as the recon info was gotten, they were to start planning. Freddy then went down to the flight line at the main airfield(it was very convienent to have her own car and driver) and talked to her ground crew chief. He had already figured out how to rig a better air filter, and was working on the fuel settings. He told her that that work should be done by the end of the next day. He also told her that he thought, and would find out for sure soon, that the climate would help the typhoon have a somewhat longer range. Freddy thanked him and asked that he let her know as soon as he knew.

Williams got in the next day and was astonished to find out that the battle would begin so soon, but hunkered down to get to work. Parks ran him ragged getting the fighters up to snuff. The new spits would arrive in the next 3 days, but it would take two days to unload them and then another day to have them ready to fly. That would not leave enough time for the pilots to get used to them before the battle began, so they would have to use the old Mark 1's for the time being. The recon gave them all food for thought. The italians had been quietly getting a hidden airfield ready and they had almost gotten away with it. That left 4 targets that the Typhoons would have to hit, so Freddy modified the original plan. She would take one squadron from the 1st Wing and one from the 3rd Wing and lead them against the hidden airfield. The 2nd WIng was attacking the biggest airfield and needed all their planes. Freddy had taken the Wing Commanders plans and had modified them a little. They would take off BEFORE dawn- it was not that hard and night flying was not difficult as long as you could land in daylight, and launch the attack as well. Since Freddy's group had the longest to go, they would take off 45 minutes before dawn- timing their attack to arrive 15 minutes after dawn, when there would be plenty of light to make the attack, but long before the Italians early patrol took off, which usually did not come untill almost one hour after dawn.

The night before the attack, Freddy was haunting operations, trying to make sure nothing went wrong and there were no suprises. Parks finally shooed her off, telling her to get some sleep. Freddy tossed and turned but did get a few hours before her alarm awakened her at 0430. She was on the flight line at at 0515, taking off at 0520. The attack went quite well. Her two squadrons held formation very well, a Typhoons exhaust was very visible at night, no lights were needed. They made one pass over the target to make sure nothing had changed, then Freddy led them in for the attack. The Italians planes were lined up in very nice order, easy targets. No shelters had been built, not even and pens to protect them from strafing. Freddy let loose her rockets, and the others followed suit. Then they made one pass over the field again, ignoring the poor AA fire, to finish off any planes that were left- and there were not many. They then headed home.

Freddy was gratified that the raid produced no losses, and only a little damage from AA.It had been a huge success- the Italian Middle East Air Force was no more. Parks had pushed and prodded and had managed to get another air shipment of rockets in, just the day before, so Freddy was able to rearm her group for one more shot with rockets. She had started putting each squadron in the air, near the front, waiting for a call for ground support. They would spend one hour, then land while another replaced them. By using all 9 squadrons there was one in air at all times during the day, ready to answer the call for help. General O'Connor was impressed. The first 3 days found only 4 calls for help, all were promptly responded to, and all worked out. The Italians were in full retreat, actually a rout. One week went by and the British were almost to Tunis. Finally, they ran out of supplies- trucking them along the single coastal road was just too slow to keep up. And they stopped. It was decided that there was no reason to go any farther- anything of value was already taken. And general O'Connor did not want to be responsible for the feeding and the care of Tunis.

Unfortunately the good news ended soon after. The situation in Greece deteriorated,a nd the PM ordered the three best divisions sent there. Also Freddy was asked about sending Typhoons to Crete and the Greek coast to support the troops. Freddy reluctantly told the Air Staff that the RAF was having all it could do to support the aircraft currently there; more would just get in the way. If they wanted Typhons there they would have to pull out some other aircraft to make room. Parks backed her up, and even the RAF commander on the scene agreed with her. That happened to be Williams, who had been sent there when the current RAF Group Captain had gotten himself shot down. Freddy was worried about him, and part of her wanted to be there but duty was duty.

The situation got worse in Greece. The Germans were driving the combined Greek/British forces back. The RAF was performing heroically, but it wasn't enough.

Their forces were being steadily whittled down, and the decision was made not to reinforce them, since the Germans had not put all that much effort in the air, and the supply situation was getting worse. Any Aircraft sent would be pretty much sacrificed. Williams was wounded and evacuated out in March, 1941. Freddy had been like a caged tigress for weeks, not allowed to even try and send help. The Air Ministry was firm- the middle east air force was not going to be eaten up in Greece, where it was clear the battle was lost. Besides, intelligence had found out that Hitler was going to help Mussolinni in Africa, and was sending ground and air forces to Morocco, where they were moving forward to help out the shattered Italians. Parks was worried. While they had gotten 5 squadrons of modern spits, and he had Freddy's typhoons, and 5 squadrons of Manchester bombers, word was the Germans were going to send more then that.

They found that out to be true. For the next year and a half Freddy kept her Typhoons going. Of the original 147 pilots including the Wing Commanders, by Jan 1943 only 25 are left. The rest were replacements. One of the Wing Commanders was killed, one was invalided home due to Malaria, and the last was promoted. Freddy was able to promote from within so the leaders were still her originals. In Jan 1943 Freddy was transferred back to England. Parks had been transferred to the Far east in October, 1942. Freddy, promoted to Air Marshall in August, had taken his place. Now responsible for all Fighters in the Middle east, she had to let go of the Typhoons at last. Her last combat Mission had been in june, when they wereholding against what proved to be Rommels last attack. Freddy spent 3 months fixing some problems with training command in regards the Typhoons and general ground attack tactics. Dowding was still Chief of the RAF,so she had a friend in in addition to the PM. She went back to North Africa as part of his staff for the Casablanca conference. She managed to talk the PM into letting her stay and coordinate the RAF during the Sicilian Campaign and the start of the Italian campaign. Freddy got in a lick or two early in the Siclian campaign when she led as squadron of Typhoons in an attack on a German Tank column threatening the American beaches.

She was credited with two tanks herself and they stopped the attack. She received the personal thanks of General Patton, who told her that if he had known the RAF has such beautiful commanders he would have switched services. Freddy liked the crusty old general. By Sept she was back in England planning the close air support tactics and campaigns for the coming Invasion.

Freddy was promoted to Air Vice Marshal in charge of close air support for Overlord. She coordinated the Typhoons, P-38's and Thunderbolts that would be charged with helping out the ground troops. On D-Day Freddy got into her Typhoon and personally led the 6th Typhoon group into assisting the invasion troops. General Eisenhower then chewed her out – saying she was too senior an officer to risk. The PM and Dowding agreed, and Freddy was told in no uncertain terms that her combat days were over. She managed one more time, though- she flew during the 3 day break in the weather during the battle of the bulge- and made a point of helping out 3rd Army in its relief of Bastogne. For which she again received the thanks of General Patton. She shot down a Me 262 jet and was credited with 8 tanks destroyed. She ended her combat record with a total of 55 kills, the leading British Ace of WW2. Dowding finally retired in Dec 1944, and Parks succeeded him. Freddy was promoted to Air Chief Marshal in Command of Fighter Command in Jan 1945. There was not a whole lot left for fighters to do. Fighter bombers like the Typhoon still were usefull, but their time was ending too. Freddy spent a lot of time checking out the Gloster Meteor, Englands first jet. She flew it in April, much to Parks discomfort, who chewed her out for taking a risk in a virtually untried aircraft. Freddy pointed out that was nothing new for her. With the coming of the end of the war, Freddy was not sure what to do. She and Williams, now an Air Vice Marshal himself, had gotten married quietly in January, with Dowding, Parks and the PM in attendance. Freddy found to her shock in August to be pregnant. She asked for and received a leave of absence untill June 1946when the baby was born. In July, 1946 Sir Keith Parks, Air Marshal of the Royal Air Force, commander, Royal Air Force, retired. Tedder became the new chief. Freddy stayed in long enough to fly the Meteor in its first operational squadron, before she called it quits in Jan, 1947, retiring as a Air Chief Marshall. Williams retired at the same time and they settled down in a farm in kent, which just happened to have an airfield, which also happened to have a Spitfire and a Typhoon.

And so ends the story of Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederica De Lancel Williams, VC, DSC,DFC,CD. Freddy lived to see the new milenium, and to see her grandson fly and fight in the first Gulf War, and her great grandson in the second Gulf War. Freddy was somewhat disapointed that none of her daughters or grand daughters were interested in flying; but her great grand daughter was. It was to her that she left her Typhoon, still flying more then 70 years after the Battle of Britain. Freddy was the last survivor of the FEW to fly her own plane in the last commemoration of that battle that any were alive to see, on Sept 15, 2011. Freddy died on July 15, 2012, the 71st anniversary of the beginning of the Battle Of Britain, the last pilot alive of the FEW. In compliance with her wishes, her ashes were scattered from her Typhoon, flown by her great grand daughter, over what had been Biggin Hill RAF Airfield.


End file.
